The Oversight Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on September 13 on tax-exempt college endowments, subcommittee chair Peter Roskam (R-IL) said this week.
House and Senate Republican taxwriters have been scrutinizing such endowments for some time, earlier this year writing to private colleges with endowments over $1 billion to request further information about the funds, especially in light of rising costs to students. Subcommittee member Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) has also been developing legislation that would require schools with large endowments to spend a minimum percent of their endowment earnings on grants to students. Currently the endowments at private, nonprofit institutions are tax-exempt and not subject to annual spending requirements.
In announcing the hearing, Roskam said that subcommittee members “look forward to learning about creative measures some institutions are taking to reduce costs for students, as well as to hearing about various tax policy proposals that could affect colleges and universities.” Colleges have argued that they are limited by donor restrictions in how they spend much of their endowment funding.
Source: The Hill
