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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Actually, it was just the worst of times. Across America, the financial crisis has hit hard. Foreclosures, empty storefronts, a nagging sense of desperation. And at Harvard, the New York Times reported last week, upperclassmen are no longer receiving “scrambled eggs, bacon and other cooked breakfast foods” in their dorms on weekdays.

Needless to say, universities that entered the crisis with endowments of less than $36 billion have also been forced to make cuts. A Chronicle of Higher Education survey of more than 200 universities found that nearly half have instated total or partial hiring freezes for faculty. More than 60 percent have frozen hiring for staff. While Harvard is taking bacon and eggs off the menu, the other Ivies have been tightening up their own belts. They have no choice but to cut back—since last September’s financial meltdown, the Ancient Eight have experienced endowment losses ranging from 16 to 27 percent. After years of eye-popping returns in the bull markets, the losses left gaping holes in the operating budgets of normally flush schools like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. The sums of money involved here are astronomical and it can be easy to lose sight of their significance. We’ve tried to put the numbers in perspective.

Click here to see what those numbers look like.
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