For Funsies: Conference Reallignment/Creation

[WillWeaverRVA]

I'm a bit shocked that ODU only has a $260 million endowment. VCU is up to $2 billion, or $2.5 including MCV.

Even Washington & Lee University, a D3 school with only about 2,200 students, has an endowment of over $1.6 billion.

 

[DisplacedRam]

about the only thing W&L has in common with ODU is that they are both located on planet Earth.

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

about the only thing W&L has in common with ODU is that they are both located on planet Earth.

ODU being located on planet Earth is debatable.

 

[mrgeode]

I'm a bit shocked that ODU only has a $260 million endowment. VCU is up to $2 billion, or $2.5 including MCV.

IIRC our endowment figure factors in the value of all the school's property, so it's significantly higher than the actual tangible number in the bank. Then again, everyone on the Forbes billionaire list is there due to unrealized assets, so who am I to call our finagling an accounting fiction?

 

[Violet Ram]

IIRC our endowment figure factors in the value of all the school's property, so it's significantly higher than the actual tangible number in the bank. Then again, everyone on the Forbes billionaire list is there due to unrealized assets, so who am I to call our finagling an accounting fiction?

Interesting. Do you know how other schools report their endowment? Including real property and improvements thereon seems problematic because of depreciation.

 

[urmite]

Interesting. Do you know how other schools report their endowment? Including real property and improvements thereon seems problematic because of depreciation.

Fordham would be an interesting case. At first glance Endowment seems to be $734 million, Current Assets appear to be $2.15 billion.

I think they do have a good bit of NYC Real Estate.

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

I'm a bit shocked that ODU only has a $260 million endowment. VCU is up to $2 billion, or $2.5 including MCV.

Fodu's endowment is still over $100 million higher than fmason. fmason's is $154.2 million.

 

[mike7842]

Fodu's endowment is still over $100 million higher than fmason. fmason's is $154.2 million.

Take away the medical college, what is ours?

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

Take away the medical college, what is ours?

It’s a little over $2 billion.

 

[Ovis fan]

My understanding is that our total endowment ranks us 22nd among public universities. Not too shabby.

 

[share the ball]

My understanding is that our total endowment ranks us 22nd among public universities. Not too shabby.

look at the audited financial statements for VCU, VCUHS and all of the significant affiliated foundations/entities -as of June 30,2020 (last audited statements available on State Auditor website)
Endowment Assets
VCU 44,400,000 (rounded to hundred thousand
VCUHSA 0
MCV foundation 240,600,000
VCU foundation 36,400,000
Business foundation 24,000,000
Engineering foundation 15,600,000

total $361,000,000

There are other funds that are not pure endowments but have been designated by the Board to function as endowments, often referred to as Quasi Endowments (which the Board could decide to unendow and use for current operations (the majority of those funds, I believe are related to VCUHS activities)
If you included those funds as endowments because they function as endowments - the consolidated entity would exceed $2billion

there is tremendous inconsistency on how Colleges and Univerisites report numbers to outside parties - (sort of like how colleges and universities report athletic revenues and expenditures to the NCAA)


The true certified numbers are in the audited financial statements

 

[mrgeode]

Interesting. Do you know how other schools report their endowment? Including real property and improvements thereon seems problematic because of depreciation.

Like @share the ball said, it's basically up to those institutions. Not saying the way we do it is wrong, just that it raised an eyebrow back when they first reported the jump from $350ish million to over $2 billion.

 

[DickLawRam]

Even Washington & Lee University, a D3 school with only about 2,200 students, has an endowment of over $1.6 billion.

College division and enrollment have nothing to do with it. W & L is a rich man's school with a long history, thus the time and pockets to build that endowment. No surprise there.

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

College division and enrollment have nothing to do with it. W & L is a rich man's school with a long history, thus the time and pockets to build that endowment. No surprise there.

Well, for a more apt comparison (i.e. public schools in the same geographical area), William & Mary has an endowment of just under $1 billion (although it is considered a Public Ivy and has relatively low enrollment) while Hampton University (a HBCU) has an endowment of around $300 million, which is still higher than ODU's.

In fact, this endowment report indicates that ODU's listed endowment includes assets from its various foundations, so the university's actual endowment is likely a lot lower.

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1453801295547183106