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Grinnell College defends itself after apparent Bufett criticism
At Saturday's annual meeting in Omaha for his Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Warren Buffett criticized a college that expanded its endowment but didn't cut tuition or boost enrollment.
"I was the trustee of a college that saw the endowment go from $8 million to over a billion, and I didn't see the tuition come down, and I didn't see the number of students go up," Buffett said at the meeting.
He didn't name the school, but it's clear to officials at Grinnell College which institution he's talking about. The liberal arts school in Grinnell, Iowa, with a $1.8 billion endowment as of June 2015, said Buffett's facts about enrollment aren't correct.
"Grinnell College is most appreciative of the service Warren Buffett has provided to the college," Lisa Lacher, a spokeswoman, said in an email when asked about Buffett's comments. "We do, however, have data to share that contradict some of his assertions."
Buffett, who couldn't immediately be reached for comment, joined Grinnell's board in 1968 through his connection with Joe Rosenfield, a Grinnell alumnus and trustee. Buffett, who also chaired the investment committee, remained on the board until he was named a life trustee in 1987, resigning from that post in 2011, the school said. Grinnell is just north of Interstate 80 about 200 miles east of Omaha.
The fund's value reached $1.5 billion in 2011, up from $10.9 million in 1968, according to Grinnell. "Enrollment did go up during these years," Lacher said. Total enrollment was 1,693 in 2011, up about 60 percent from 1968. The number of students reached 1,705 in 2015.
Buffett was right that tuition hasn't decreased. But Lacher said "growth in the endowment and endowment spending has enabled the college to make substantial increases in institutional financial aid and increase the number of Pell (Grant)-eligible students while maintaining a need-blind admissions policy and meeting 100 percent of the demonstrated financial need of domestic students."
Tuition, fees and room and board are almost $61,000 for the 2016-2017 school year, according to Grinnell's website.
Buffett was the architect of Grinnell's endowment growth, said George Drake, who was president of Grinnell during a portion of Buffett's tenure as a trustee. "None of this would be possible without the large endowment built by Warren Buffett and his close friend and mentor, Joe Rosenfield."
Grinnell is heavily dependent on its endowment, with more than half the operating budget coming from annual returns.
"When you read the figures on endowment of the big schools, and some of them have really gotten up in the big numbers, the main objective of the people running the endowment is to have the endowment grow larger, and that will be ever thus," Buffett said at the meeting.
