Professional schools still weathering recession - Gavan Gideon, Yale Daily News

Though three years have passed since the onset of the nationwide economic recession, Yale’s professional schools are maintaining a conservative approach with their budgets. While University President Richard Levin claimed in an early October town hall meeting that University finances have stabilized, academic units across Yale will not immediately benefit from the 21.9 percent return on endowment investments in fiscal year 2011, Provost Peter Salovey said. As a result, the professional schools that have struggled most through the economic downturn — those whose operating revenue depends heavily on income from the endowment — have yet to move past financial difficulties imposed by the recession. The biggest effect of the recession at Yale has been the value of the endowment and the amount of the endowment that could be spent,” Salovey said. “The more endowment available to you, the tougher it was after the downturn to make your budget.”