Endowment

[madDOG]

I was surfing Wikipedia today and noticed on the UA page that it lists our endowment at $30MM. Is that correct? If so, that's pretty bad for a research institution of our size. Like...REALLY bad.

 

For comparison purposes...Bing is listed at $100MM. Buffalo at over $700MM. Stony Brook at $110MM (which seems low for them too).

 

I guess my question is....WTF?!

[UAalum72]

My guess would be that the vast majority of Albany graduates who have reached retirement age/death (the time when you'd make major gifts and legacies) went to the College for Teachers, and we all know the fortunes to be made in that line of work. And I don't think there was ever a priority given to fundraising, because the state was supposed to provide the college's expenses. Now that public funding is being cut back, anything they raise is getting spent before it can go into the endowment.

 

Doesn't explain why we're so far behind Bing and SBU, but Buffalo had an endowment from when it was a private university before 1962.

[alum73]

It was < 10 MM not many years ago, so I guess it's all relative. Our progress is somewhat encouraging. I encourage all to give back as their circumstances allow.

[danefan]

We're so far behind Bing and SBU because they've each produced a few huge individual donors of the last few years.

 

Our prior status as a Teacher's College is coming to full cycle now as 72 mentioned above. Its going to take a while to shake that.

[madDOG]

Makes sense. Hopefully in a few years when these Nano grads are making the mega bucks they'll write some fat checks to the university. The expansion of the business school should help too.

[UAFAN]

Endowment Funds: $35,190,378

 

Total Assets: $ 108,991,097

 

2011-12 University at Albany Foundation Report

 

http://www.albany.edu/uafoundation/attachments/foundationreport2012.pdf

[alum73]

Binghamton , like Buffalo was private before becoming a SUNY.

[UAalum72]

Binghamton , like Buffalo was private before becoming a SUNY.

Yes, but only for four years, 1946-50, before Triple Cities College split from Syracuse and became Harpur College in the SUNY system.

[madDOG]

List of 2012 college endowment market values:

 

http://www.nacubo.org/Documents/research/2012NCSEPublicTablesEndowmentMarketValuesFinalJanuary232013.pdf

 

UA is at #641 and down .7% from the year before. Far below Buffalo and SB which each saw positive increases from 2011. Bing is ahead of us by a good margin but saw their endowment value decrease in size by 3.3%. Oneonta is even ahead of us.

 

Very sad.

[Michigan_Dane]

I was doing some searching one weekend on research universities to see where UA stands. My assumption is this is the big factor to getting into AAU. I kept hearing we produce about $400M in research grants per year. This is way ahead our SUNY Center peers. The SUNY NY2020 presentation also shows this number and puts us just south of Virgina Tech. We're actually ahead of a number AAU research universities including former AAU member Nebraska.

 

What I took away was our tiny endowment is the biggest factor holding us back. At $400 M in research we're rocking but at $30 M in endowment we're back of the class. The endowment number was being used in the calculation and thus dragging down our standing.

 

http://mup.asu.edu/research2011.pdf

 

http://www.albany.edu/news_images/nysuny2020etecfinal.pdf

Edited February 4, 2013 by SoCal_Dane

[Phoenix]

I truly hope that everyone who thinks our endowment is too small is immediately pulling out their check book..or credit card.. and doing their part to boost that number. That's the only way it will change.

 

http://www.albany.edu/giving/index.shtml

[UBBulls]

The endowment number was being used in the calculation and thus dragging down our standing.

 

Endowment matters in the "Top Research U" rankings but isn't among the measures of the AAU membership policy. Stony Brook was admitted when its endowment was even lesser than today's modest figures. A significant endowment obviously doesn't hurt, but Albany seems to lag in AAU measures such as faculty memberships and productivity, doctoral ed., and 'breadth and quality' of grad/research programs. Undergrad ed. is slightly 'below' typical AAU levels but should be easily bolstered by SUNY2020. The unfair hurtle that all face is the very real, subjective overall analysis of all attributes, where the members ask the question "Does this U. 'feel' like an institution synonymous with excellence on the level of AAU members?".

 

I was doing some searching one weekend on research universities to see where UA stands. My assumption is this is the big factor to getting into AAU. I kepthearing we produce about $400M in research grants per year. This is way ahead our SUNY Center peers. The SUNY NY2020 presentation also shows this number and puts us just south of Virgina Tech. We're actually ahead of a number AAU research universities including former AAU member Nebraska.

 

The research expendature figures in the chart on page 7 of the UA's SUNY2020 proposal are off. Albany's figures are total expendatures while those listed for Buffalo fall in line with only federal expendatures. As shown in the Top Research U's report our university total was $338M in 2010 (and over $360M today). The $400M+ figure some quote for Albany comes about when they include other funding:

 

In FY12 UAlbany external sponsored fund expenditures decreased by 2% for a total of $330.54 million. The UAlbany campus spent $106.885 million of external sponsored funds and CNSE spent a total of $223.6 million in sponsored funds. Our affiliated UAlbany faculty in the Department of Health (HRI) spent $97.0 million of sponsored funds....Thus in aggregate the total UAlbany and affiliated institutions sponsored funds expenditures for the past fiscal year of $427.5 million indicate a robust and well-funded environment of research, training, and public service --- http://www.albany.edu/research/assets/fallaccent12.pdf

 

So if Buffalo did the same with the research done by our affliated medical staff at institutions among the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus, or SBU with Brookhaven and others, we'd each have a much larger figure as well.

[Michigan_Dane]

"So if Buffalo did the same with the research done by our affliated medical staff at institutions among the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus, or SBU with Brookhaven and others, we'd each have a much larger figure as well."

 

You make some valid points. I do take issue that CNSE shouldn't be included.

 

Brookhaven as a part of Stony Brook is not a fair comparison. We're talking about the "College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering". This is actually a college within UAlbany such as Business or Computing. It should definately be counted. Brookhaven is not a college within Stony Brook. It's just an affiliation.

 

All of the SUNY Centers suffer from some of the same criteria. Endowment is poor across the baord. I do think the other criteria you throw in such as undergrad performance are not the primary drivers to AAU . Research is the key. AAU is a club for big research universities not undergrad liberal arts. Research is why Nebraska and Syrcuse got kicked out. Nebraska had less than $100 M in research and it was largely agriculturcal focused, which the AAU discriminates against. They don't like Ag. Albany smokes Nebraska in research and the pace is only picking up with CNSE and the new $165M NY2020 plan.

 

The good news is that the numbers are improving across the board for SUNY Centers. Research is up. NY2020 will be a huge boost to both research dollars and a boost in faculty.

 

California has nearly every UC system in AAU. I don't think it merited in all cases. UC has at least 2x the number of campuses than there are SUNY Centers. I can see SUNY pushing to get Albany in as their 3rd and rightly so.

Edited February 5, 2013 by SoCal_Dane

[MRSGDG]

UAlbany and SEFCU Team for New Investment in Higher Education Opportunities for Capital Region Students

 

Feb 5, 2013

 

http://www.albany.edu/news/33865.php

[Michigan_Dane]

UBBulls, the one thing that does need to change with SUNY is this trashing of other SUNY Centers. Here you are arguing against UAlbany.

 

Buffalo and Stony Brook tried to throw Binghamton and Albany under the bus during the flagship argument a few years ago with the now discgraced former governor. Now I see Buffalo and Stony Brook trying to circle the wagons against Albany despite some very serious research numbers.

 

It has to end. The University of California is 10 schools. 10! 6 are AAU members. They don't throw each other under the bus and it may explain in part why the UC system is so prestigious. SUNY on has 4 SUNY Centers out of 64 campuses. You think the 4 could pull each other up or at least not try to stop each other. We need "SUNY" to have a good national reputation and dragging your fellow SUNY Center through the mud or throwing up road blocks is not productive.

Edited February 5, 2013 by SoCal_Dane