Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2013 November 9

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November 9

How much donation to make university tuition-free?

Hypothetical situation. Suppose a very generous benefactor wanted to make attending college free for a single university's entire undergraduate body in the US. Suppose it is a private university with a total enrollment of 10,000 undergrads. Suppose tuition + board + annual expenses = $50,000 USD per student. Roughly speaking, how big of a donation would that individual have to provide to the university for this to be indefinitely feasible assuming proper endowment management? Acceptable (talk) 01:50, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

Well, assuming the endowment had a modest interest rate of, say, 5% per year, then 10,000 x $50,000 would be $500,000,000. Add to that a rough inflation rate of 1-2% per year (go with 2%, just to be safe) that means a person would have to endow a minimum of 20x500,000,000 dollars (so the endowment would earn enough in interest to be self sustaining) plus an additional 1/50th per year (to cover inflation) that would be $10,000,000,000 in initial outlay, plus an additional 200,000,000 per year to keep pace with inflation. --Jayron32 04:10, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

You're making this hard. Assume a 5% return with a 2% inflation rate gives an adjusted 3% return. $500M /.03 = $16.666,666,666.67. And that's a ridiculously lowball assumption, given managing such sums and finding places to invest them are hugely difficult, Bernie Madoff. The world can't just live off interest. Someone still has to use the capital profitably. μηδείς (talk) 04:49, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

For a real world example, Deep Springs College is free. Its $16,000,000 endowment supports one-half the expense for its student body of 26. Which suggest an endowment of $1.25 million per student is sufficient. Or $12.5 billion for 10,000 students. On the other hand, Harvard has massive tuition fees despite having $30 billion in endowment to support 21,000 students ($1.4 million per student). Rmhermen (talk) 18:00, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

There are several "promise" programs that provide free college tuition to all graduating highschool students in an area. The Kalamazoo Promise is an example, and it was funded by a set massive initial donations. As far as I know, the actual size of the fund is not public. The FAQ just says that it is set up to go on in perpetuity and that the anonymous donors are a small group of VERY NICE people. (Their capitalization) It doesn't answer your question, but it does show that the funds to do it aren't outside the realm of possibility. Katie R (talk) 15:31, 11 November 2013 (UTC)

A picture of the Clapper, James Clapper

My computer contains pictures of the individual we'll call "James Robert Clapper Jr." However, these pictures may be classified, that is classified as clean shaven, and, on the second hand, as with a sort of goatee. Can we classify other sorts of pictures existent? For instance, may one empirically (with the aid of computers or no) prove the existence of a photo of the Clapper with a beard? May one intelligently exclaim the proprietary existence of a photo (digital, analogue, or other)--that is, of a photo or photo(s), in general circulation of Mr. Clapper with a full head of hair? If so, can we "define" the color or, more likely, colors of the hair that may be said to be his. If this proves, via open source methodologies, to be a time-dependent impossibility (in the Greek sense of the word); is it an open secret of who cuts his hair? If you choose to go "math" on the "problem", remember that possible solutions include the set of a mixture of the cutting of one's own hairs and, perhaps at the bidding of one's partner, the commercial exchange of currency for the activation of a hair-raising service. If I said "this is homework" I'd be lying, but then I'm not under oath. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.240.77.215 (talk) 05:47, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

Can you restate your question in 25 words or less? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:24, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

Also, this[1] is required viewing anytime the term Clapper comes up in conversation. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:42, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

If anyone understands this question they may be able to give a better answer. In the meantime, Provenance seems to be the most relevant article. Tevildo (talk) 17:16, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

This OP has asked several long-winded, obscure questions like this. (I didn't know they knew that many words in Kentucky.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:02, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

Our article on James R. Clapper contains two photos (with goatee and cleanly shaven). A diligent research into his earlier career - maybe including interviews with his family members / past barbers and browsing through his photo album - should answer your further questions. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 19:07, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

Star Wars sequel auditions

Hello, There is a Star Wars sequel that is going to be made, and there are auditions all over the world. I am trying to find the dates and locations of those in the UK, but my googling only seems to give me results for news articles without this information. Any help you can provide would be much appreciated. Many thanks, 81.101.120.9 (talk) 19:20, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

This page says: "Auditions take place in Bristol on November 9th and 10th, Glasgow and Manchester on November 16th and 17th and London and Dublin on the 23rd and 24th."

More details can be found at this Twitter account. Good luck! Alansplodge (talk) 19:42, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

You are so, so awesome! Thank you!! :D

81.101.120.9 (talk) 19:49, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

We do our best... Alansplodge (talk) 02:13, 10 November 2013 (UTC)

Resolved