アメリカのリベラルアーツ・カレッジと基本財産

抄録

Endowments for American colleges and universities have steadily increased between 2002 and 2007. This study analyses the medium-term changes of endowments per student in 20 leading liberal arts colleges focusing on five aspects; 1) number of students, 2) number of faculty members, 3) student-faculty ratio, 4) salary of faculty members and 5) student aid provided by the college. During the above mentioned period, the average numbers of students of the 20 colleges increased slightly from 1,787 to 1,869 by 5%. The student-faculty ratio remained between 7:1 and 8:1 — a good level for liberal arts education. The faculty salary increased 14% slightly lower than the relevant consumer price index. Student aid by college increased 41%, and this increase was made by all 20 colleges to compensate for the high tuition increase. The 20 colleges are divided into 4 groups based on the endowment per student and the percentage of the restricted assets. Colleges of group B (Amherst, Swarthmore, Williams, and Wellesley) that have very high endowment per student with high restricted ratio strengthened the characteristics in terms of liberal arts college education such as lower student-faculty ratio during these five years.