I was glad to see the article in Monday's Alligator on UF's billion-dollar endowment. Since the '80s, students have had to deal with increasing debt as tuition rates continue to rise faster than inflation. With this rise in tuition comes the inflated salaries of school administrators and university endowments reaching into the billions.
Many are asking why universities are not contributing more of their donations and burgeoning endowments to help reduce the need for tuition increases. After all, Floridians subsidize the university endowment by making donations tax deductible and the endowment gains tax-free. The university has a public obligation attached to these benefits to keep tuition rates affordable. UF can easily make a provision that calls for a percentage of all donations and interest on the endowment to go toward reducing tuition.
One must ask, "Why hasn't the Board of Trustees done this yet?"
