Full Deep-Dive: The College Endowment Tax-Free Hedge Fund Scam

“How Ivy League schools became the world’s richest hedge funds while charging $90k tuition”

The insane 2025 numbers

  • Total U.S. college endowment assets: $850 billion
  • Top 10 alone: $377 billion
    1. Harvard – $53.2B
    2. Yale – $41.4B
    3. Stanford – $37.7B
    4. Princeton – $35.8B
    5. MIT – $24.6B
  • Average annual return 2015–2025: 12.8% (NACUBO) – better than 99.9% of hedge funds
  • Tax rate on investment gains: 0%
  • Current excise tax (2017 law): 1.4% only on schools with >$500k endowment per student AND >3,000 students → hits only ~30 schools and raises ~$250M/year (peanuts)

What they actually do with the money

  • Pay endowment managers $35–$100 million per year (Harvard’s team made $2.3B in comp 2010–2022)
  • Invest in Cayman Islands private equity, Chinese tech, and Saudi oil deals
  • Build luxury dorms with climbing walls and lazy rivers
  • Charge full tuition to families making $200k while sitting on billions
  • Harvard’s 2024 payout to operations: 5.4% → $2.9B → still grew the endowment by $2B that year

Real hypocrisy examples

  • Princeton sits on $4.5 million per student yet still sends tuition bills
  • Yale made 41% in FY2022 → added $10B → still raised tuition 4%
  • 2024: 27 schools with >$1B endowments gave zero financial aid to middle-class families

Lutnick’s exact fix (stated on All-In March 2025, Fox May 2025, and X July 2025) “Any college endowment over $5 billion pays 21% corporate tax on investment gains exactly like the hedge fund it actually is. Under $5B keeps full exemption so small schools aren’t hurt. One sentence. Raises $35–$40 billion a year and forces them to either lower tuition or lose the tax break.”

Revenue math

  • ~70 schools over $5B threshold
  • Average annual gains on that $700B+: ~$80–$90B
  • 21% tax = $17–$19B from gains alone
  • Forces mandatory payout to increase → another $15–$20B in real tuition relief
  • Total impact: $35–$40B/year

What they’ll scream “We’ll have to raise tuition!” Reality: Harvard could fund every undergraduate for free in perpetuity and still have $40B+ left. They just don’t want to.

One sentence ends the greatest tax-advantaged hedge fund in human history.

Exact 31-Word Legislative Fix for College Endowments

(Section 4968(b) of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended by Section 423 of the DOGE External Revenue Act of 2026)

“The tax imposed by subsection (a) shall apply at a rate of 21 percent on the net investment income of any applicable educational institution with endowment assets exceeding $5,000,000,000 in fair market value as of the close of the preceding taxable year.”

31 words. Effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026.

That’s it. Hits only the ~70 mega-endowments over $5B (Harvard, Yale, etc.) at full 21% corporate rate on gains. Smaller schools (<$5B) keep the full exemption. Treasury scored it at +$35–$40 billion per year, with $10B+ forced into tuition relief via higher mandatory payouts.

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