Lane Glenn, president of Northern Essex Community College in Massachusetts, proposed a thought experiment: what if elite universities' endowment gains were partially redirected to build endowments at community colleges.
Glenn calculated disparities in per-student spending. Harvard spends about $282,000 per undergraduate annually, while Northern Essex Community College spends about $14,000. The University of Pennsylvania's endowment grew 28 percent last year to around $31 billion, adding roughly $7 billion in a single year.
If $1 billion from that single year's growth were divided among Pennsylvania's 15 community colleges, each would receive about $67 million. At a standard 5 percent endowment payout rate, that would add roughly $3.3 million per year to each college's operating budget. For a college with a $38 million annual budget, this represents an 8 to 9 percent increase and would establish a new permanent baseline for funding.
The author, writing for Inside Higher Ed, notes that such funding could eliminate operating deficits, enable faculty and staff hiring, and allow long-term planning rather than reactive budget management. Private universities already benefit from tax exemptions on property, investments, and donations, which the author describes as a form of public subsidy.
Glenn also suggested that elite institutions take a set percentage of community college transfer students, though the author expressed skepticism, citing geographic barriers that would make this unequally beneficial across different regions.
The author emphasized that reliable, predictable funding would give community colleges planning stability that elite private schools already possess. The proposal requires no ongoing levy, relying instead on converting a one-time endowment assessment into sustained operating income.