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The annual statement of the Treasurer of Harvard College was presented to the Board of Overseers at their last meeting and is made public today. The total amount of funds and balances standing on the books July 31, 1905, was $18,036,025.28 actually paid in before July 31 on account of the Teachers' Endowment Fund (the total subscription amounts to about $2,240,000 of which about $1,800,000 has now been paid in); $100,000 from the Class of 1880, counted as part of the Teachers' Endowment Fund subscription, but held as a separate fund; $321, 361.90 from the estate of Edward W. Codman, for "the Academical Department"; $100,000 from anonymous giver to establish the Francis Greenwood Peabody Endowment for the encouragement of the Studies of the Ethics of the Social Questions; $50,000 from Mrs. Walter Channing Cabot, Henry Bromfield Cabot, Mrs. Robert Treat Paine 2d, Mrs. Ralph Emerson Forbes, Walter Mason Cabot and Mrs. Henry Dwight Sedgwick to establish the Walter Channing Cabot Fund or Fellowship. The total amount of the gifts for capital account, that is, gifts to establish new funds or to increase old ones was $1,455,131.97. The gifts for immediate use amounted to $875,295.59, the greater part of which were payments on account of gifts previously announced from Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, Mrs. Collis P. Huntington and Mr. Davis Sears for the erection of the new buildings of the Medical School.
The deficit in the University, College and Library account was $30,743.06, or about $5,00.00 less than the year before. As in former years the deficit was charged to the principal of the Insurance and Guaranty Fund, thus reducing the income-yielding capital by the amount of the deficit. It should be understood that the University treasury has not been obliged to incur debts on account of the deficits in any department. In every case the deficits have been met by the surpluses of former years or out of free capital. Nevertheless, the reduction of the unrestricted funds in this manner is a very serious drain upon the resources of the University and obviously has its limits. In fact, the Insurance and Guaranty Fund, which has borne all the deficits of recent years, would be wiped to by another deficit, as large as that of 1903-04. Relief is to be expected, however, from the recent accession of unrestricted funds and the closer adjustment of tuition fees to the amount of instruction given.
The Divinity School had a deficit of $3,085.92, which was met from the previous credit balance. The Law School had a surplus of $41,351.22, and its credit balance at the end of the years was $323,906.17. The Medical School had a deficit of $24,853.93, which reduced its credit balance to $5.560.57. The Dental School would have had a surplus of $881.74, but for the payment of $20,000 from accumulated income toward the purchase of a site for its proposed new building. This made the deficit $19,118,26 and left the credit balance $11,346,73. The Bussey Institution had a deficit of $1,422,35, which reduced its credit balance to $27,143.83. The Arnold Arboretum had a surplus of $9, 855.29.
A decided improvement in the form of the Treasurer's Statement is found in the exhibition of receipts and expenses and the resulting surpluses or deficits in the various accounts. A glance at these tables suffices to show where endowment is needed. The word "deficit" as applied to some of the tables, however, needs explanation. In the case of the Chapel, for example, there being only a small endowment, almost the entire running expense appears as "deficit." Of course, this and many other establishments in the University have to be maintained out of the general income. There is a distinct advantage however, in having the precise relation of receipts and expenses exhibited even in these departments
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