New Pitt spending policy increases support for financial aid

At a public meeting in Posvar Hall Monday morning, Pitt’s Investment Committee approved a new spending policy that increases the amount of University funding directly supporting financial aid.

For fiscal year 2020, the increase will result in an additional $7.5 million in financial aid for students across each of Pitt’s five campuses, according to Pitt spokesperson Kevin Zwick. The money will support Pitt Success, which includes financial aid initiatives such as the Pitt Success Pell Match.

The Investment Committee, which is part of Pitt’s Board of Trustees and presided over by Board member Ed Grefenstette, oversees the Consolidated Endowment Fund. The CEF is an investment pool comprised of thousands of individual endowment funds with a variety of designated purposes and restrictions, including quasi-endowments, whose principal balance is not required to be maintained pursuant to a donor restriction.

The $7.5 million set to come in FY 2020 comes from the University’s Operating Funds Quasi-Endowment. The new spending policy increases the distribution rate from this quasi-endowment fund from 4.25% to 4.75% for FY 2020. 

The committee said in the record of its public meeting on Monday that as a state-related institution, the University must search for sources of funding beyond the state government to ensure it has enough resources to operate without “unduly escalating tuition.”

“In light of waning Commonwealth support, increasing government scrutiny, and a concerted effort to control tuition rates, these other sources of funding have considerably grown in significance and are vital to the University’s cause,” the record said. 

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Chief Investment Officer Greg Schuler as head of the Investment Committee and Panthers Forward as part of the Pitt Success program. The article also incorrectly stated that the increased funding for financial aid was coming from multiple quasi-endowment funds instead of one. This article has been updated to reflect the accurate information. The Pitt News regrets this error.