Student Costs
Though institutions nationwide are grappling with limits on their ability to increase tuition, Princeton benefits from the fifth-richest endowment in the U.S., according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund Institute.
It also has room to raise student costs. At $40,170, the school has the lowest combined annual tuition and fees among the 15 highest-ranked national universities, according to U.S. News & World Report.
In the Ivy League, a group of eight selective colleges in the northeastern U.S., Harvard University, Yale University and Columbia University join Princeton in earning top credit grades.
Though much of the school’s property is exempt, it still paid $9.5 million in local taxes to Princeton, where it is the largest taxpayer, according to the university’s website.
Contribution Tally
The institution in 2013 also made a voluntary contribution of $2.48 million to Princeton, which is “far and away the highest contribution by any college or university” as a percentage of the municipality’s budget, which is about $60 million, Mbugua said.
The school’s policy is to remove a non-residential building from tax rolls only when its sole use is educational, according to the website.
Princeton isn’t alone in facing pressure to pay its host community more. Brown University, the Ivy League school in the Rhode Island capital of Providence, agreed in 2012 to boost payments to the city by $31.5 million over 11 years. Providence has the third-lowest investment grade from Moody’s.
Disputes stem from “municipalities looking for additional revenue sources,” said Brennan at Nuveen.