The Entrepreneurial Winter Break is Upon Us

I have been working with some students on business plans over the past few and it became clear that ‘class work’ often gets in the way. Many of the students put in enormous amounts of time over the Thanksgiving break and it became obvious that making use of school vacation’s is crucial for students considering launching a business.

While many student entrepreneurs sometimes psychologically check out of their coursework, there is work that must be completed, deadlines to meet, and peers to support, often on group projects.

As the first semester comes to an end, we implore student entrepreneurs to start thinking ahead to your upcoming winter break. Depending on the campus, students will have between 3 and 6 weeks w/out coursework obligations.

The academic calendar often provides multiple chunks of ‘free time’ for student entrepreneurs to put into their ventures. Take advantage of this asset of the entrepreneurial frontier in America: its system of higher education.

Drop us a line and let us know what your plans are for an entrepreneurial winter break.

More Free Tuition?

This blog discussed Harvard and some other schools recent decision to start making full grants as assistance for students rather than loans. The reason for this new trend is that many school endowments have become enormous — grabbing the angry attention of politicians and parents wondering why tuition and costs are so high when school coffers are so full.

This recent USA Today article explains how dramatically school endowments have grown — an average of 17% last year. From the piece,

The number of colleges and universities boasting endowments of $1 billion or more climbed by 14 last year to a record 76, nearly doubling the number of such schools five years ago. And as tuition increases continue to outpace inflation, that’s prompting some critics to step up their pressure on colleges to share more of their wealth.

Harvard’s nearly $6 billion increase last year alone is larger than the endowments of all but 14 of the 785 schools that participated in the study. And the combined value of the top 10 colleges represents 35% of the $411 billion in total endowment assets reported.

Yet the percentage of the endowment those schools spend each year — for everything from hiring faculties to building maintenance to competing for research — is among the lowest. Schools with $500 million or more in assets reported spending an average 4.4%, vs. an overall average payout last year of 4.6%.