Amount: $904M (FY 2023)

Net tuition and fees represent consideration received from students or participants in exchange for instruction or course credit, net of a scholarship allowance. 

Scholarship allowance (financial aid) is reclassified from expense to contra revenue, reducing tuition revenue for financial aid up to the total amount of tuition per student.

Financial aid is not allocated to auxiliary services or educational revenue (housing, dining, student health insurance, etc.).

Historical Tuition Rates

Fall Enrollment Totals

Amount: $153M (FY 2023)

Appropriations are typically awarded based on legislation and not through an application process.

State appropriations are funds distributed through the State University of New York (SUNY).

Federal appropriations are funds distributed through various federal agencies for land grant institutions like Cornell, used for agricultural education and research, other special research projects, and extension activities.

Federal financial aid, such as Pell grants and Perkins loans, is “passed through” Cornell and not considered revenue. This funding is recorded as either a payment on a receivable or as a liability.

Amount: $1,095M (FY 2023)

Also known as sponsored programs revenue, grant and contract revenue is:

• Generated from an external entity, such as a governmental agency, a corporation, or private foundation. 
• Recorded as sponsored revenue when it is for an activity with a defined budget, a period of performance, and a scope of work undertaken by the university. Outcome expected to directly benefits the resource provider.
• Earned and recognized when expenses have been incurred, except as otherwise provided for in the terms and conditions of the award.

Sponsored Funding by Major Source 

The majority of sponsored funding for research and mission-related activities comes from the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the National Science Foundation, and non-federal foundations.

External Sponsor Funding by Major Source table

Amount: $398M (FY 2023)

Contributions or gifts include outright cash gifts and pledges (promises to give) to the university. These contributions, including unconditional promises to give, are recognized as revenues in the appropriate categories of net assets in the periods received. 

A pledge is recorded at the present value of estimated future cash flows, based on an appropriate discount rate determined by management at the time of the contribution. 

A contribution of assets other than cash is recorded at its estimated fair value on the date of the contribution. 

Contributions for capital projects, endowments, and similar funds are reported as non-operating revenues. 

Conditional promises to donate to the university are not recognized until the conditions are substantially met.

Amount: $418M (FY 2023)

The Board of Trustees, in consultation with the finance committee, is responsible for the university’s endowment payout (distribution) policy.

The board approves the endowment payout for the coming fiscal year at the January meeting.

The payout is set annually by the Board of Trustees within a range of 4.4% of a twenty-eight-quarter rolling average, plus or minus 0.75%.  Our target is not to exceed 5% of the twenty-eight-quarter value.

Endowment Payout

Historical Withdrawals of the Long-Term Investment Pool (LTIP)

Amount: $1,362M (FY 2023)

Weill Cornell Medicine's Medical Physician Organization income includes clinical practice income from professional services to patients and revenues generated by physician members conducting instructional and research activities.

Amount: $202M (FY 2023)

An auxiliary enterprise is a non-academic entity that exists predominantly to furnish goods or services to students, faculty, or staff, and that charges a fee directly related to, although not necessarily equal to, the cost of the goods or services.  

The university’s auxiliary enterprises include housing, dining, conference services, and retail operations (Cornell Store).

Amount: $902M (FY 2023)

This amount includes revenues associated with non-credit education-related programs and other sales and service activities that occur in many units throughout the university.

Examples of such programs include executive education programs, Statler Hotel, Cornell University Hospital for Animals, royalty income, athletic programs and ticket revenue, rental income, student health insurance premiums, and Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar.

Amount: $0 (FY 2023)

This amount represents the transfers of funds from temporarily restricted net assets to unrestricted net assets resulting from the satisfaction of donor-imposed stipulations concerning timing or purpose.

Amount: $3,590M (FY 2023)

This amount includes salaries, wages, other compensation, and benefits for all non-contract college employees. 

The State of New York pays the benefits and accrued expenses for all contract college employees.

Historical Workforce Numbers

Amount: $1,288M (FY 2023)

This amount consists of expenses associated with:

• Services contracted for and performed by a third party rather than the university’s internal staff. Examples of such expenses include search firms, technology companies, independent consultants, caterers, performers, etc.
• Costs necessary to maintain the university’s daily operations and administer its business. Examples of such expense include office supplies, laboratory supplies, communication, travel, insurance, etc.

Amount: $158M (FY 2023)

This amount includes the costs of maintaining and operating the university’s physical plant.

Examples of these costs are utilities, routine and preventive maintenance, and lease rentals.

Amount: $66M (FY 2023)

This amount is the cost associated with any borrowings – bonds, loans, or lines of credit.

Amount: $309M (FY 2023)

This amount represents the planned, gradual reduction in the recorded value of assets over their useful lives by charging them to expense.

Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the useful life of an asset.

Amount: $18M (FY 2023)

State appropriations for capital acquisitions represents New York State’s appropriations for SUNY construction funding for capital projects on contract college buildings.

Amount: $0 (FY 2023)

Grants, contracts and similiar agreements for capital acquisitions represents construction funds that at times may be provided by the New York City Economic Development Corporation or other government entities.

Amount: $247M (FY 2023)

Contributions for capital acquisitions, trusts, and endowment, represents gifts designated for non-operating purposes such as capital projects, trusts, and endowments.

Amount: $-8M (FY 2023)

Investment return, net of amount distributed (after payout), consists of unrealized gains and losses on investments, any difference between total return and amounts appropriated from the pooled endowment, and income and realized gains reinvested per donor restrictions.

Amount: $5M (FY 2023)

Split-interest agreements are contributions, or gifts, that are shared by the university and other beneficiaries. Some examples include charitable gift annuities, pooled income funds, and charitable trusts for which serves as trustee. Assets held in trust are either separately invested or included in Cornell’s investment pools under the agreements. Contributions of split-interest agreements, net of related liabilities, increase net assets with donor restrictions. Liabilities associated with charitable gift annuities and charitable trusts represent the present value of the expected payments to the beneficiaries, based on the agreements’ terms. Pooled income funds are recognized at the net present value of the net assets expected at a future date. Gains or losses resulting from changes in fair value, changes in assumptions, and amortization of discount are recorded as changes in the value of split-interest agreements in the appropriate restriction categories in the non-operating section of the consolidated statement of activities.

Amount: $14M (FY 2023)

This amount reflects the impact of actuarial changes in the liability for pensions and postretirement benefits for employees.

Amount: $42M (FY 2023)

This line captures swap interest payments and any change in the fair value of the swaps due to changes in the discount rate.

An interest rate swap is a forward contract in which one stream of future interest payments is exchanged for another based on a specified principal amount. Interest rate swaps usually involve the exchange of a variable interest rate for a fixed interest rate to obtain a marginally lower interest rate than would have been possible without the swap.

Amount: $-17M (FY 2023)

This amount represents other revenue and expenses not categorized elsewhere.

Amount: $0 (FY 2023)

This amount represents assets for capital acquisitions and reclassifications that are released from the temporarily restricted classification to become unrestricted.