Wealth
As the nation's wealthiest universities find themselves under fire from legislators, CMU seems to have a fair amount of money going to those who need it most - students.
The Senate Finance Committee is dangling a mandate requiring 5 percent of university endowments to go toward financial aid.
CMU's official estimate is that nearly 50 percent of an $82.3 million cluster of endowments goes toward financial aid.
This is, for obvious reasons, a good thing.
Debt is one of the most frightening post-graduation worries. Its minimization should be top priority for universities, especially smaller state schools like CMU, whose average student is far from opulent and whose price tag is one of its biggest draws.
Additionally, this should help clear up certain misconceptions that all universities, in virtue of plush endowments, have a luxuriant monetary supply from which legislators may draw to balance their budgets.
True, other areas of the budget could stand to be pruned, but endowments often are subject of many derogatory remarks.
Central is no Harvard. Our alumni have been generous, but their donations total far less than as, say, a $34.6 billion fund. And a great portion already goes toward aiding students.
If legislators wish to continue to bemoan escalating tuition rates, they should more seriously consider the great amount already coming from some universities to best combat that cost increase.
A degree should not leave graduates fearing for their next meal. Central, or at least its donors, seems to be doing a good deal to fend off that dread.
While the university's budget may not be perfectly efficient, perhaps this may serve is a wake-up call to some legislators.
If they wish to preach education as a cure to our economic woes, a more accessible tuition rate, aided by additional state funding, certainly would help.
