The College Closes Its Books "In the Black" for 1952-53
FISCAL 1953-53 was a satisfactory year for Dartmouth all expenses covered, a credit balance of $1,131 left over, and total assets of the College lifted beyond $40,000,000 for the first time it was announced last month by Treasurer John F. Meek '33 in his annual financial report to the Board of Trustees.
Standing out prominently on the income side of the ledger was the $551,542 of Alumni Fund money used to produce this "in the black" result. Before the 1953 Alumni Fund was applied, operating expense for the year was $550,411 greater than income. Besides preventing a deficit, this year's Alumni Fund provided an additional $40,000 for the Alumni Fund Scholarship Reserve established two years ago and $30,000 for endowing a second Alumni Fund Scholarship.
The detailed figures on income and expense for 1952-53, with comparative amounts from the preceding year, are given in the boxed tabulation on this page. Inclnding auxiliary activities (the DCAC, DDA, outing properties, Hanover Inn, Hanover Country Club, dormitories, and other Hanover real estate), total income for the year, not including any part of the Alumni Fund, was $5,386, 018 as against total expense of $5,936,430. Excluding auxiliary activities, the net educational and general income of $3,677,485 was $314,426 or 8.4% greater than the previous year the result in the main of an increase in the added fee toward the cost of education from $75 to $200 per year, effective September 1952. The net educational and general expense total of $4,100,706 was $354,200 or 9.5% greater than the year before.
With an increase of 18,122,074 in the grand total of endowment funds raising that figure at book value to $31,975,319, the total assets of the College on June 30 stood at $42,002,153. This was the first time in Dartmouth's history that assets advanced beyond the $40,000,000 mark. Gifts and bequests during the year accounted for $1,067,392 of the endowment increase, a total exceeded in only five previous years. The balance of endowment growth came principally from net gains of $799,809 on the sale of investments.
Among the facts and figures reported by Mr. Meek to the Trustees, the following are some of the more interesting:
Income from student fees in 1952-53 rose by $349,170, or 18.7%, as a result of the higher added fee and a small enrollment gain over the preceding year. Student fees provided 51% of operating income for the year, compared with 49.3% the year before, while endowment income accounted for 25% and the Alumni Fund 12.7%.
Total expense for the year (including only the net figures for auxiliary activities) amounted to $4,227,897. Instructional and library costs of $2,155,638 were 51% of this total. Plant operation and maintenance represented 12.6%, administration 10.9%, scholarships 8.7%, health service 4.1%, auxiliary activities (net) 3%, and miscellaneous 9-7%.
Scholarship expense of 1365,335 was a record amount for this purpose and was 20% higher than for 1951-52. The increase of 1125 in the added fee remitted for all scholarship men accounted for most of the rise in the scholarship total. In order to meet this cost, the Alumni Fund Scholarship Reserve was drawn on for the first time, and will again be used substantially in 1953-54.
f The net return for the year on the total average investment at book value was 4.89% as compared with 4.97% the year before. On security investments alone, the net return was 5.26% as compared with 5.41%. On the basis of average market values, the return from securities was 4.24%, a slight drop from the 4.28% of the preceding year. On June 30 the market value of security investments as compared with book value stood at 115.9%.
¶ Security investments at book value were distributed 51.8% in common stocks, which produced a net return of 7.11%; 44% in bonds, with a 2.81% return; and 2% in preferred and guaranteed stocks, with a return of 5-21%. Of Dartmouth's total investments, 83.6% were in securities, with the rest in dormitories, real estate, and real estate mortgages.
¶ Dartmouth's total plant account as of Tune 30, 1953, stood at 18,493,405, or 20% of the College's total assets. Including dormitories and certain service properties carried as investments of endowment funds, the value of the plant was $11,400,658. No important new plant construction took place during the year. The cost of major repairs to Memorial Stadium was met from the deferred maintenance reserve of $40,000 created the year before. The Trustees on June 30, 1953, established a similar maintenance and improvement reserve of 187,350, almost all of which will be expended during the current fiscal year.
¶ The Hopkins War Memorial Program Fund, reserved wholly for. plant construction, amounted to $1,592,392 on June 30. It is carried as a separately invested fund with income added to principal for the time being. In 1951-52 the Fund provided $143,271 for completion of the enlargement of Wilder Hall, which was part of the planned Hopkins War Memorial Program.
f For auxiliary activities in 1952-53, expense exceeded income by $127,191. The greater part of this sum $97,977 was the DCAC loss for the year, underwritten by the College in accordance with the arrangement made between the Athletic Council and the College in 1949. The Hanover Inn and Dartmouth Dining Association incurred no losses in their operations.
¶ Gifts for current use in 1952-53, exclusive of the Alumni Fund, and receipts from trusts in the hands of others totaled 1335,214 as compared with $256,050 the year before.
¶ Of the $1,067,392 added to endowment through gifts and bequests, $316,648 or 29.7% was for unrestricted purposes, $279,556 or 26.2% for scholarships and student aid funds, $232,055 or 21.7% for instruction, $112,279 or 10.5% for Alumni Fund endowment, $70,482 or 6.6% for plant, $22,227 or 2.1% for fellowships, and $34,145 or 3.2% for miscellaneous purposes.
Printed copies of the 1952-53 financial report, containing detailed schedules of assets and of income and expense for the year, may be obtained by writing to the Office of the Treasurer, Parkhurst Hall, Hanover, N. H.
