this article sums it up pretty good. what i take from it is that it would have been much higher, but UCF is currently and has been in a capital improvement cycle. they raised 500 million and used it for the med school, sports complex, new dorms, new classrooms and they continue to spend for the UCF downtown campus. hence the reason why a good portion of UCF is brand spanking new. if UCF was a built out university already, these donations would have gone in the coffers and the endowment would not be as much as an embarrassment.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/...tml#page=1

Paid site.

Most schools have capital improvements campaign that are separate from endowment funds. I understand that USF and UCF being young schools that are growing are building a lot but the older schools also have to pay more in renovations of older building and bringing them to current technical requirements. So they also carry out Capital a Improvement Campaigns.
Endowment funds are more related to how long the school has been around and thus benefiting from alumni leaving funds after they pass and on Research capabilities that bring donations related to that research.

(03-21-2015 05:05 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Most schools have capital improvements campaign that are separate from endowment funds. I understand that USF and UCF being young schools that are growing are building a lot but the older schools also have to pay more in renovations of older building and bringing them to current technical requirements. So they also carry out Capital a Improvement Campaigns.
Endowment funds are more related to how long the school has been around and thus benefiting from alumni leaving funds after they pass and on Research capabilities that bring donations related to that research.

Exactly. Given equal universities, the ones that have been in existence longer should always have larger endowments.

Since the article is behind a pay wall, it's hard for this of us that don't care what the Orlando Sentinel says (any more than the Memphis CA) to dispute the specifics of what it says. However, just looking at UCF's growth, the newness of the campus, and length of time it's been in existence, to expect a large endowment would be unreasonable.

I find the OP's wording "endowment would not be as much as an embarrassment." to be out of place and uncalled for.

Funds raised for a specific campaign don't just roll over into some generic coffer either.

(03-21-2015 04:50 PM)Knightbengal Wrote:  Paid site.

wow, two of you dont know the trick behind these paid sites.

copy the article title. then go to google pasting the article title. first hit will take you right in.....FREE OF CHARGE. works for most of these paid newspaper sites.

(03-21-2015 05:22 PM)oldtiger Wrote:  

(03-21-2015 05:05 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Most schools have capital improvements campaign that are separate from endowment funds. I understand that USF and UCF being young schools that are growing are building a lot but the older schools also have to pay more in renovations of older building and bringing them to current technical requirements. So they also carry out Capital a Improvement Campaigns.
Endowment funds are more related to how long the school has been around and thus benefiting from alumni leaving funds after they pass and on Research capabilities that bring donations related to that research.

Exactly. Given equal universities, the ones that have been in existence longer should always have larger endowments.

Since the article is behind a pay wall, it's hard for this of us that don't care what the Orlando Sentinel says (any more than the Memphis CA) to dispute the specifics of what it says. However, just looking at UCF's growth, the newness of the campus, and length of time it's been in existence, to expect a large endowment would be unreasonable.

I find the OP's wording "endowment would not be as much as an embarrassment." to be out of place and uncalled for.

see my above instructions

Jeez, I thought this thread was going to be about bra sizes of the coeds there.

156 million is embarrassingly small.

I prefer to think of our small endowment as evidence of our investment into the campus. Anyone who has visited would be hard pressed to disagree

It's not just main campus either. The medical school is in a pricey area and the downtown campus and 10 regional campuses eat that as well. We just celebrated 50 years of existence and it is growing so I feel we will be in a good spot soon.

(03-22-2015 12:09 AM)Kruciff Wrote:  I prefer to think of our small endowment as evidence of our investment into the campus. Anyone who has visited would be hard pressed to disagree

Agreed

Age of school is the main reason it is small. Even UCF is 10+ years older. With normal returns, UCF's endowment should go up 50% or more in 10 years not counting any new money coming in. Article pointed out #1 source of new money for endowments is Money left when people die, Ucf's first grads are just now in the 65 year old range.

(03-22-2015 12:02 AM)gostangs Wrote:  156 million is embarrassingly small.

It's not the size of your endowment that matters. It's how you use it.

(03-22-2015 08:12 AM)goodknightfl Wrote:  Age of school is the main reason it is small. Even UCF is 10+ years older. With normal returns, UCF's endowment should go up 50% or more in 10 years not counting any new money coming in. Article pointed out #1 source of new money for endowments is Money left when people die, Ucf's first grads are just now in the 65 year old range.

Agree but their also needs a priority and plan by the school to improve those numbers.
As much as many don't like our President, she has been steady through out her stay on raising USFs endowment fund and research money. So it can be done and still build new facilities. USF looks nothing like what it did back in 82 when I graduated and its building a downtown medical campus, while in the midst of 1 billion fundraising campaign and our endowment funds are past 450 million.

So as I said UCF youth and fast growth are part of the low endowment numbers, the school must also make that a priority and establish a goal to shoot for.

(03-22-2015 09:30 AM)Cubanbull Wrote:  

(03-22-2015 08:12 AM)goodknightfl Wrote:  Age of school is the main reason it is small. Even UCF is 10+ years older. With normal returns, UCF's endowment should go up 50% or more in 10 years not counting any new money coming in. Article pointed out #1 source of new money for endowments is Money left when people die, Ucf's first grads are just now in the 65 year old range.

Agree but their also needs a priority and plan by the school to improve those numbers.
As much as many don't like our President, she has been steady through out her stay on raising USFs endowment fund and research money. So it can be done and still build new facilities. USF looks nothing like what it did back in 82 when I graduated and its building a downtown medical campus, while in the midst of 1 billion fundraising campaign and our endowment funds are past 450 million.

So as I said UCF youth and fast growth are part of the low endowment numbers, the school must also make that a priority and establish a goal to shoot for.

I think it has. I will say starting in about 20 to 30 years you will see an exponential just simply because our alumni base will mature. I really think Judy's plan is to true to use academics as a way to get into the p5.

No reason UCF should be ashamed of the endowment. There are much older schools that don't match it, like:

Stony Brook $139 M
UC Riverside 141
UC Santa Cruz 119
North Dakota 122
Rhode Island 98
San Diego State 135
http://mup.asu.edu/research2012.pdf

The growth of UCF and USF is great.

(03-22-2015 12:09 AM)Kruciff Wrote:  I prefer to think of our small endowment as evidence of our investment into the campus. Anyone who has visited would be hard pressed to disagree

While UCF has certainly developed a nice campus, you can't really directly correlate your low endowment fund with your campus's growth.

That is,

Academic buildings and related infrastructure: were paid for by the state

Athletic facilities: by law you can't use state funding so you had to resort to some creative financing to build a new basketball arena and football stadium. Specifically, UCF didn't pay for a significant percentage of it's new arena based on a unique partnership with commercial investor where they paid for the arena district in exchange for future earnings. It was a brilliant move...but the point is that this project didn't require much UCF dollars or dollars from donors that could have potentially gone to your endowment fund. Similarly, your ~$50-million football stadium was built with less than 20% of the money raised from donations and instead from corporate naming rights, increase in student fees and good old-fashioned debt service.

The main thing to realize is that people that make big dollar donations to a university are very specific and targeted with their money b/c that is how these donations are usually setup. So consequently, it is doubtful that the money raised for athletics through donations would have gone to the academic side of the house.

UCF has a low endowment fund primarily b/c it's a young institution....AND...it hasn't been an institutional priority yet. With infrastructure now set, I can see UCF doubling their dollars within the next 10-15 years and will likely be a TOP priority of your new President with Hitt's imminent retirement. With that said, your new president will have some big shoes to fill as Hitt has been the classic definition of transformational for UCF.

(03-22-2015 03:18 AM)Knightbengal Wrote:  It's not just main campus either. The medical school is in a pricey area and the downtown campus and 10 regional campuses eat that as well. We just celebrated 50 years of existence and it is growing so I feel we will be in a good spot soon.

KB - the state paid for you new medical school not your endowment fund. In fact, your endowment dollars likely grew b/c of the money raised to graduate your first medical school class debt free.

Ditto for regional campuses. These satellites facilities grow b/c of state funding not b/c of benevolent community donors/patrons.

(03-22-2015 02:40 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  

(03-22-2015 03:18 AM)Knightbengal Wrote:  It's not just main campus either. The medical school is in a pricey area and the downtown campus and 10 regional campuses eat that as well. We just celebrated 50 years of existence and it is growing so I feel we will be in a good spot soon.

KB - the state paid for you new medical school not your endowment fund. In fact, your endowment dollars likely grew b/c of the money raised to graduate your first medical school class debt free.

Ditto for regional campuses. These satellites facilities grow b/c of state funding not b/c of benevolent community donors/patrons.

Yep. IMO, the low endowment hasn't been a top priority over the last decade. Good discussion btw.