Doing More with Less: Which Colleges Spend More Than Their Wealth Would Predict

A College Transitions analysis of 305 four-year institutions compares each school’s academic spending per student with what schools of similar endowment wealth typically spend. The largest shortfalls belong to public flagships in the South and Midwest, and the largest surpluses belong to universities with medical schools.

College Transitions analysis of IPEDS 2024 finance, enrollment and graduation data

Among the 26 schools featured in this analysis, the one that spends least on academics compared with similarly wealthy peers is not a cash-rich liberal arts college. It is Mississippi State University. Colleges with Mississippi State’s endowment, about $41,000 per full-time-equivalent student, typically spend around $25,000 per student each year on instruction, academic support and student services. Mississippi State spends $12,000, about half the predicted amount.

That result could simply reflect the different ways public and private colleges are funded, so we tested it. Fitted against public universities alone, Mississippi State still ranks second lowest of about 120. Texas Tech, Alabama, Arkansas, Nebraska and Kansas State also stay among the bottom dozen or so. Among private colleges alone, the lowest-ranked school is Trinity University in San Antonio.

These results come from IPEDS 2024 data, published by the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Endowment is the wealth figure families hear about most. Academic spending per student comes closer than endowment size to the resources a college devotes to teaching and student-facing academic work, although institution-wide totals do not isolate what undergraduates receive.

How the Comparison Works

Academic spending per student is the sum of three IPEDS expense categories (instruction, academic support and student services) divided by full-time-equivalent enrollment. Academic support covers libraries, advising and academic administration. Student services covers career services, counseling, the registrar and retention programs. Research spending is reported separately and is excluded. Endowment per student is end-of-year endowment assets divided by the same enrollment figure.

A log-log regression across all 305 institutions yields an R² of 0.68. In statistical terms, endowment per student accounts for about two-thirds of the variation in academic spending. The fitted line gives each school a predicted spending level for its wealth. A school at 100% spends what a typical school with its endowment spends, a school at 50% spends half that, and a school at 200% spends double.

This is a benchmark, not a measure of efficiency or generosity. An endowment is not a budget, and nothing here asks whether a college draws enough from its endowment. Public universities rely heavily on state appropriations, which the model does not see. Institutions differ widely in graduate and medical enrollment, and public and private colleges follow different accounting standards. A school below the line spends less than its endowment alone would predict. That does not by itself mean it underspends on its students.

Figure 1. Each dot is one of the 26 schools in this article with published endowment and spending figures. The dashed line is the trend fitted across all 305 institutions; schools above it spend more than their endowments predict. Source: IPEDS 2024; College Transitions analysis.

Two groups separate from the rest. Wake Forest, UCLA and UC San Diego sit far above the line. Six large public universities sit well below it in the lower left corner, with endowments under $70,000 per student and academic spending under $20,000.

Six Public Flagships Sit Farthest Below the Trend

Mississippi State spends $12,000 per student, 48% of the predicted amount. Texas Tech spends $15,000 (55%), Nebraska $18,000 (61%), Arkansas $17,000 (61%), Alabama $16,000 (63%) and Kansas State $18,000 (64%). Their endowments run from $41,000 to $69,000 per student, and their six-year graduation rates fall between 67% and 73%.

Medical spending is not hiding in these totals. The medical schools affiliated with Alabama, Arkansas, Nebraska and Texas Tech report to IPEDS as separate institutions (the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center). Mississippi State and Kansas State do not operate MD-granting schools.

Virginia Commonwealth University needs a different reading. It holds $110,000 in endowment per student and spends $23,000, or 67% of the predicted amount. VCU does operate a medical school, and its institution-wide total can include medical education. If it does, the share of spending that reaches undergraduates could be lower than 67%. The data cannot settle which way the accounting runs.

The Flagships Stay Near the Bottom Among Public Universities Alone

Fitting one line through publics and privates together raises an obvious question. Are these six flagships unusual, or is the model simply registering that public universities, as a group, spend differently? To test that, we fitted separate lines for public and private institutions, using the dot positions in the 305-school chart.

Among public universities, endowment explains far less. The public-only R² is about 0.25, against 0.69 for private colleges. Endowment is a weak predictor of a public university’s academic spending, which is itself a reason to read public results with care.

The six flagships remain outliers anyway. Against the public-only trend, they spend between about 51% and 71% of the predicted amount, and all six rank in the bottom 13 of about 120 public universities. VCU moves to about 80%, roughly 30th from the bottom, which takes it out of that group.

Table 1. Spending as a share of the predicted amount under the all-school trend and under separate public and private trends. Sector fits and ranks are computed from dot positions traced from the 305-school chart (about 290 recovered) and are approximate. Source: IPEDS 2024; College Transitions analysis.

The private side holds up as well. Trinity University ranks lowest of about 170 private colleges, the University of Tulsa second lowest and Notre Dame fourth.

Wealthy Private Colleges Spend About Three-Quarters of the Predicted Amount

Trinity holds about $693,000 in endowment per student, the most of any school in this group except Notre Dame. It spends $40,000 per student on academics, 64% of the predicted $62,000, and graduates 84% of students within six years. Tulsa spends $35,000 against an endowment of $379,000 per student (68% of predicted), with a 72% graduation rate.

Setting Notre Dame aside, eight more private colleges cluster between 74% and 79% of the predicted amount: St. Olaf, Wofford, Wabash, Dickinson, Ohio Wesleyan, Gettysburg, DePauw and Goucher. Their academic spending ranges from $29,000 at Gettysburg to $44,000 at DePauw.

Graduation rates inside that cluster vary widely. St. Olaf and Wofford graduate 84% of students within six years, Gettysburg 83% and Dickinson 80%. Goucher graduates 57% and Ohio Wesleyan 59%. Graduation rates partly reflect the students a college enrolls, so one figure does not explain the other. For a family considering Goucher or Ohio Wesleyan, they are two separate figures worth asking about.

Figure 2. Twenty schools whose academic spending falls below the level their endowments predict, ranked by the size of the gap. Source: IPEDS 2024; College Transitions analysis.

Earlham and Reed, two of the four wealthiest schools per student in this group, sit near the line. Earlham spends $55,000 per student on an endowment of $595,000, about 93% of predicted, and Reed spends $52,000 on $556,000, about 90%. Under the private-only trend, Reed ranks about 46th and Earlham about 59th from the bottom of some 170 private colleges, well clear of the low end. Their spending tracks their wealth.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame shows that a school below the line can still post strong outcomes. Its endowment of roughly $1.3 million per student is the largest in this group, and its $57,000 in academic spending is about 75% of predicted. Notre Dame graduates 95% of students within six years and retains 99% of first-year students. It is also highly selective, and these data cannot separate the effect of the students it admits from the effect of what it spends.

Medical Schools Inflate the Top of the Spending Rankings

The schools farthest above the line look spectacular until you check one detail. Wake Forest spends $175,000 per student on academics against an endowment of $219,000, roughly four times the predicted amount. UCLA spends $107,000 on an endowment of $73,000, about three and a half times. UC San Diego spends $60,000 on $35,000, about two and a half times. Tulane, at $64,000 on $170,000, comes in at about 1.6 times.

All four operate medical schools, and so does the University of Miami, which spends $63,000 per student. IPEDS reports spending for the whole institution, so instruction totals at these universities can include medical and other graduate education. The figures cannot separate that spending from what reaches undergraduates. A family should not read UCLA’s $107,000 as the amount spent on a freshman.

Figure 2 shows the 18 schools in the analysis with endowments below the sample’s 75th percentile, spending above the trend line and six-year graduation rates of at least 70%. Ten of the 18 operate medical schools, including all five at the top. A ranking built on raw spending per student would put universities with medical schools at the top of this list.

Figure 3. Eighteen schools above the endowment-spending trend, with six-year graduation rates. Gray bars mark universities that operate an MD-granting medical school. Source: IPEDS 2024; AAMC member list; College Transitions analysis.

Eight Over-Performers Without Medical Schools

The eight schools in Figure 2 without medical schools are the cleaner cases, because their spending totals carry no medical education. Northeastern spends $41,000 per student on an endowment of $57,000, about 1.5 times the predicted amount, and graduates 91% of students within six years. Loyola Marymount spends $37,000 with a 79% graduation rate.

Six are public. Maryland spends $31,000 per student (89% graduation), UMass Amherst $28,000 (83%), UC Santa Barbara $26,000 (83%), UC Santa Cruz $23,000 (75%), Binghamton $22,000 (82%) and the College of New Jersey $19,000 (86%). Pitzer College, outside the chart, spends $54,000 on an endowment of $158,000, about 1.4 times predicted, and graduates 83%.

Every Named School, Ranked Against Its Predicted Spending

The table lists all 26 schools with both figures published, ordered from the largest shortfall to the largest surplus under the all-school trend.

Table 2. Predicted spending and shares are read from the published 305-school trend line and are approximate. Six-year graduation rates: IPEDS 2024. Medical school: AAMC member list. Source: IPEDS 2024; College Transitions analysis.

What the Spending Figures Cannot Separate

Medical and graduate education

IPEDS expense categories cover every student at an institution. Universities with medical schools, large graduate populations or professional schools can post high per-student figures driven by spending undergraduates never see. Research expense is excluded, but some health and research costs may still land in instruction.

Revenue outside the endowment

State appropriations and tuition revenue shape spending at every school, and neither enters the model. The public-only fit shows the cost of that omission for public universities, where endowment explains only about a quarter of the variation.

One year of data

The analysis uses a single year. Spending at an individual school can move from year to year, and a multi-year average would produce steadier comparisons.

Regional costs

Salaries and operating costs vary by region, and the figures are not adjusted for them. A dollar spent in Los Angeles or Boston buys less than a dollar spent in Lubbock or Starkville. These data cannot say how much of the gap between coastal and interior schools that difference accounts for.

Student preparation

Six-year graduation rates partly reflect the preparation of the students a college enrolls. Pairing spending with graduation rates here is descriptive, not causal.

Accounting standards

Public institutions report under GASB standards and private nonprofits under FASB. The all-school fit treats the two as equivalent; the separate public and private fits avoid that assumption.

Dickinson or Northeastern, Read Through the Spending Data

Picture a student admitted to both Dickinson College and Northeastern University. The published price barely separates them. Dickinson listed tuition and fees of $65,650 in the IPEDS 2024 data, Northeastern $66,162.

The balance sheets point the other way. Dickinson holds about $271,000 in endowment per student, nearly five times Northeastern’s $57,000. Yet Northeastern spends $41,000 per student on instruction, academic support and student services, and Dickinson spends $35,000. Northeastern spends about 1.5 times what its endowment predicts and Dickinson about three-quarters, and the gap holds under the private-only trend. Northeastern graduates 91% of students within six years and retains 97% of first-year students. Dickinson’s figures are 80% and 92%.

None of that settles the choice. Fit, aid packages and the student’s intended major carry more weight than any single spending figure. The numbers do hand this family three specific questions for Dickinson: how instructional spending per student has changed over the past five years, what share of introductory courses full-time faculty teach, and how many advisers and career staff serve each class. A counselor can put the same three questions to any college on a student’s list whose dot sits below the line in Figure 1.

Data sources. Endowment per FTE, academic spending per FTE (instruction, academic support and student services expenses divided by FTE enrollment) and the 305-institution log-log fit (R² = 0.68) come from the College Transitions analysis of IPEDS 2024 finance and enrollment data, covering degree-granting institutions primarily classified as baccalaureate or above; the U.S. service academies are excluded. Predicted spending equals $15,758 × (endowment per FTE ÷ $10,000)^0.324, as read from the published trend line. The public-only and private-only fits were computed on dot positions traced from the 305-school chart; the traced points reproduce the published all-school fit (slope 0.325, R² 0.68). Six-year graduation rates, first-year retention rates and published tuition and fees come from the IPEDS 2024 data collection as compiled in the College Transitions IPEDS institutional panel. Medical school status comes from the Association of American Medical Colleges member list. Figure 2 schools have endowment per FTE below the sample’s 75th percentile, positive residuals and six-year graduation rates of 70% or higher.