Jon Baker posted the following to the Antioch College Alumni & Community Facebook group.
In their 2025 report, the College’s financial auditors questioned Antioch’s “ability to continue as a going concern” because of how the College was paying for operating expenses. Most of these problems were discussed in “Antioch by the Numbers #5.” The College’s borrowing from the endowment fund required its own analysis, so here it is.
First off, what is an endowment fund? It is a pool of donated money and investments that a college or university holds to support its long-term goals, such as scholarships, faculty positions, and research. Schools typically invest the fund and use a small percentage of the earnings each year to fund operations while keeping the principal intact. In their report on endowment funds the American Council on Education notes that “most institutions follow prudent spending guidelines that are intended to buffer economic fluctuations and produce a relatively stable stream of income. Because the endowment principal is typically not spent, the earnings generated by the endowment support institutional priorities year after year.” According to the auditors, Antioch has spent down its endowment’s principal to a point that, not only can it not provide for “priorities year after year,” it can barely provide for current operating expenses.
There are two basic types of endowments: restricted endowments with funds that must be used for specific purposes as defined by the donor and unrestricted funds that can be used for any purpose.
According to the auditors, Antioch has been borrowing from the endowment fund to the point that “the fair value of assets associated with the donor-restricted endowment funds has fallen below the level that the donor or UPMIFA requires the College to retain as a fund of perpetual duration.” The UPMIFA is the Uniform Prudent Management Institutional Funds Act of Ohio which provides guidance on endowment expenditures for nonprofit and charitable organizations. It allows an institution to “appropriate for expenditure or accumulate so much of an endowment fund as the institution determines is prudent” for its uses. The auditors were concerned that donors might not agree with the “prudence” of the borrowing of their endowment funds. Also, and most critical, “the College was not in financial position to repay loans from endowments.”
It’s important to note that that auditors’ report does say that the Board of Trustees believes the use of endowment funds is legal and, back in 2013, a Green County judge did declare that the endowment loans “are prudent investment decisions.”
But things have not improved since then; they’ve gotten worse. The College borrowed $17,122,977 as of June 30, 2025 and 2024. Because this is technically a loan, the College has to pay interest on the loans at 4%. The interest payments were $3,015,685 and $2,330,766 as of June 30, 2025 and 2024. That’s right; they’re paying to borrow from the College’s own funds.
The amount of money left in the endowment was discussed on campus during the reunion and, when staff was asked the amount, all alums were told was that it was more than $1 million. No actual amount was provided. From other sources it was learned that just before the end of the College’s fiscal year on June 30, 2026 two alums made contributions to the endowment in the neighborhood of $1 million. Just after the books were closed $1 million was taken out and set aside to pay operating expenses. What remained was $1.5 million, of which $1 million is frozen and cannot be used. That left a mere $500,000 in the fund the College can use to keep the doors open.
On campus there were reports of emergency meetings called to find money to make payroll. If this year’s expenses are similar to last year’s ($11 million) the $1 million just taken out of the fund, and the $500,000 still there, are not enough money to keep the College open for very long.
No one is accusing anyone at Antioch of stealing money or using endowment funds to pay for lavish vacations or condos in the Caribbean. The funds have been used to fix up buildings left to deteriorate by the prior, University trustees, to pay staff and provide for other operational expenses.
What is a problem is that Antioch’s leadership has been unable to come up with a financial plan that works. The auditors’ report includes a letter from Jane, written to respond to their critical assessment of the College’s finances. In the letter she says that, “Antioch College is seeing success with the SEE Plan.” As described in “Antioch by the Numbers #4”, the SEE Plan has failed, having not generated the funds it was supposed to.
The College has borrowed from the endowment fund almost to the point of its extinction, there is no money be pay back the loans and the financial plan developed to rescue the College financially has failed.
You can’t keep drawing water out of the well forever. Sooner or later the well runs dry.
Sources – Antioch College Corporation Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Years End June 30, 2025 and 2024, Brady Ware & Schoenfeld. “Understanding College and University Endowments” American Council on Education, 2024.
