Franz: Financial report oversimplified, erroneous in endowment figure

A recent college financial report doesn’t add up in its assessment of UW-Green Bay, vice chancellor Kelly Franz recently told The Post-Crescent of Appleton, and it uses inaccurate figures to reflect the University’s endowment. The recently released report from Bain & Co. and private equity firm Sterling Partners lists 11 Wisconsin colleges, including UW-Green Bay, as being on a “financially unsustainable” path (along with, it’s worth noting, such prestigious universities as Cornell, Harvard and Princeton). Among the problems with the report is a huge error in how UW-Green Bay’s endowment is listed — the report says it’s $42 per full-time student, whereas the endowment is actually closer to $5,000 per full-time student. “I would take this with a grain of salt,” Franz said in the story, which ran today (Sept. 10). “They try to take a fairly complex thing and oversimplify it. … I don’t think you can come to the right conclusion based on those numbers for the health of the school.” Full story.