Harvard University`s endowment suffered investment losses of at least 22% in the first four months of the school`s fiscal year, the latest evidence of the financial woes facing higher education.

The Harvard endowment, the biggest of any university, stood at $36.9 billion as of June 30, meaning the loss amounts to about $8 billion. That`s more than the entire endowments of all but six colleges, according to the latest official tally.

Harvard said the actual loss could be even higher, once it factors in declines in hard-to-value assets such as real estate and private equity -- investments that have become increasingly popular among colleges. The university is planning for a 30% decline for the fiscal year ending in June 2009.

Other university endowments also are suffering, and many states are cutting public funding of higher education. Colleges are instituting hiring freezes, planning enrollment cuts and discussing steep tuition increases, intensifying worries about the impact of the recession and financial crisis on college access.

The federal government already has taken emergency steps to boost lending to students, and several well-off colleges have said they will maintain or boost financial aid to help families hurt by job losses, investments setbacks and borrowing problems. But not all colleges have the financial heft to withstand the many forces bearing down on them.

Joni Finney, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies college economics, says she worries that public universities and less-wealthy, smaller private colleges may not be able to keep their doors open to all students. "If you go down the food chain of higher education, it`s harder and harder to deal with these kinds of cuts," she says.

Private-college budgets are sensitive to investment declines because they typically tap their endowments each year to help cover operating expenses.

The University of Virginia Investment Management Co. said it lost nearly $1 billion, or 18%, of its endowment over the four-month period, reducing it to $4.2 billion. In Vermont, Middlebury College says its endowment fell 14.4%, to $724 million. In Iowa, Grinnell College`s endowment dropped 25%, to $1.2 billion. In Massachusetts, Amherst College says its endowment, $1.7 billion as of June 30, also fell by 25%.

In a letter to Harvard`s deans, university President Drew Gilpin Faust and another official blamed "severe turmoil in the world`s financial markets" for the endowment loss. She said it would lead to budget cuts, and that the school would sell bonds to increase its financial flexibility.

The Harvard letter said the 22% loss, from July 1 through Oct. 31, understates the actual decline because it doesn`t reflect assets such as real estate whose values couldn`t yet be estimated. Currently, endowment income funds 35% of Harvard`s $3.5 billion budget.

The 30% fiscal-year loss Harvard is planning for would eclipse the loss of 12.2% in 1974, its worst over the last 40 years.

Harvard`s loss marks a sharp reversal from the endowment`s formerly chart-topping performance. Harvard and Yale University -- which hasn`t disclosed its endowment`s recent performance -- pioneered an investment approach that de-emphasized U.S. stocks and bonds and placed large sums in more exotic and illiquid investments, including timberland, real estate and private-equity funds. That strategy, which was widely copied, helped the schools avoid significant losses after the technology boom ended in 2000.

But the current market has been far less favorable, partly because both Harvard and Yale have relatively small holdings of bonds, such as U.S. Treasurys, one of the few assets that have performed well. Harvard began its fiscal year with a target of having 33% invested in publicly traded shares, split among U.S. stocks, which have dropped 24% in the four months through October, and international stocks, which have fared worse.

Other investments, such as commodities, which were a boon to Harvard in past years, have turned negative in recent weeks. Harvard has sought to sell off about $1.5 billion in investments with private-equity firms, which typically use their assets to fund corporate takeovers, according to people familiar with the situation. That would be one of the largest sales ever of a private-equity stake. But its private-equity partnerships received bids of only around 50 cents on the dollar, say other people familiar with the matter.

Daniel Jick, chief executive officer at Boston-based HighVista Strategies, which handles money for some endowments, says that in some prior years, investments such as real estate and private equity have helped buffer endowments against losses on stocks.

In her letter, Harvard`s Dr. Faust said the endowment loss has "major implications for our budgets and planning, especially since our other principal revenue streams also stand to be challenged by the economic crisis."

Target of `Below 100 ` which I gave on Piramal Life Sciences was effortlessly reached.Next target below 60 levels has also been reached.The quarterly results will be announced next month which will again show increasing losses.Yes in fact I continue to expect the losses to continue for another eight quarters at least.With nothing much on the development/breakthrough front and luckless luck continuing stock remains a strong sell,my one year target being"Below 20".

Have degree - and pink slip

The number of college grads seeking work is at an all time high, which means more bad news for the broader economy.

NEW YORK -- There are currently a record number of unemployed college graduates seeking work. So many, in fact, that they outnumber high school dropouts on the job hunt.

In November the number of people with a higher degree who were out of work rose to 1.413 million from 1.411 million in the previous month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Comparatively, there were 1.282 million unemployed high school dropouts, up slightly from 1.273 million in October.

"College graduates are not going to get away unscathed," said Dean Baker, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, "everyone is being hit by this."

While the manufacturing and construction industries were hardest hit by layoffs last month - 85,000 and 82,000 jobs lost, respectively, according to the Labor Department - it is the professional and business services category that many economists view as a barometer for overall economic activity.

In its November jobs report, the Labor Department said that firms in the business and professional services category cut 136,000 jobs, the largest one-month drop on record. Additionally, financial services jobs fell by 32,000, another record decline.

Those job cuts are hitting college educated workers the hardest, according to Dr. Reena Aggarwal, a professor of finance at Georgetown University`s McDonough School of Business.

"A lot of the job losses are the more higher paying jobs and it`s just going to mean far fewer dollars flowing into the economy," she said.

A glass half full
But even though business and professional services saw significant layoffs, the unemployment rate among those with a higher degree held steady at 3.1% in November. The overall unemployment rate rose to 6.7% from 6.5% in October.

"You`re still less than half as likely to be unemployed if you have a college degree," Baker said.

"The numbers say, despite these conditions, we still have a strong job market within the professional skills category, nearly 97% of college-educated workers are employed," said Janette Marx, senior vice president of Ajilon Global, professional staffing firm.

Going forward, "you may see an increase but it will probably remain at half or less than half of the overall unemployment rate," Marx said.

Experts agree that overall unemployment is likely to rise substantially in the months ahead. The Labor Department announced that the economy shed 533,000 jobs in November, the largest monthly job loss total since December 1974. The year`s total job losses is now 1.9 million, not including the slew of large-scale job-cut announcements on Thursday.

But Baker said college graduates shouldn`t panic, yet. "In a way, there`s been a little bit of a lead time," she explained. "Students understand this is not going to be a market where they will have three or four offers."

Yes awaiting the next quarterly results which will again show increasing ugly losses....................yes,just get out!

Again pretty ugly losses as expected.Anyhow lets refresh though there is nothing refreshing here......only more increasing losses to come......also its heading to bankruptcy.

1)When the stock was at 260 I gave a clear-cut target of 160 on this board.2)I then gave my target at 120. 3)My next target was "Below 120"which was revised to "Below 100".4)I then revised the target to 60 levels and then to 50 levels which was then revised to "Below 20 levels" which will be attained soon.However my one year target(Dec 2009) now is "Below 10"

I had at all times given a call to exit with a caution not to re-enter as the gradual fall will take the stock to near zero levels.I also forecasted increasing losses for the next eight quarters at least.Yes,in fact,I am wondering,as I was expecting higher losses.See Glenmark,with a proven R&D arm has fallen by over 25% today after its insipid numbers.

From 200 levels my call has been to exit this stock at any level to whoever will buy it.I still mantain this call with a loud Exit call here.Exit!

Exit on every upmove................just see on the day the stock was listed Mr Ajay Piramal came on CNBC saying that a reputed brokerage has assessed the stock around 750 and small investors brought in the range of 400-500 as per their posts.Stock listed at 540 and heavy selling took place seeing the volumes,by those who knew that severe losses would be posted in the forth-coming results.

I wonder any such game now?

P.S. Such games have to be played as folks have to cover their losses.Daily we see this.

You dont know about business of this company. They are into clinical research and revenues realize once the research is complete and product is approved for subscription. This company will start generating cash 2012 onward...if you buy at this price it will be minimum 10 times from here in 3 years period.

Clinical research is a very expensive, high risk-high reward business.You are right in that revenues will come only when the product is approved for subscription.But the problem is whether they will be able to discover a molecule and whether it will be approved.Being a doctor,i can very categorically tell you that discovering a new drug and getting it approved by USFDA is not easy at all.It will take several years for the process to be complete and in the mean time losses will keep mounting.Piramal life already has a loss of 75 crore rupees in the past 9 months,let`s be too optomistic and assume that they do get a drug approved by 2012,by that time there accumulated loss will be minimum 450-500 crore rupees.Even if the drug gives them revenues of 500cr,it will come over 4-5 years,they will still continue to be in loss becoz expenses for new research will continue to mount.Now think what will happen if they get a drug but it fails at the last step of approval,all the money spent til then will make a huge hole in the balance sheet and the company could easily go bankrupt.Please note that it`s very difficult to get financing for such high risk businesses during recessionary times.Already many big MNCs in this business are suffering colossal losses.I myself bought the share at Rs305,but exited at 240,taking a loss.I felt I was very unlucky,but now I feel that I am actually lucky to sellor my entire capital would have been lost.Please do not buy into this counter even if somebody is offering at Re1.Big traders can easily manipulate such illiquid stocks,becoz you require only a few lakhs to make the stock hit its upper circuit.Dear retailers please dont fall into such traps,instead please EXIT EXIT EXIT with every rise.

Okay I agree that these type of business would have its own gestation and time.However the global bust is changing all.See,El Lily cancelled a major clinical project with Glenmark worth $360 million.Yes,in USA so many hospitals are closing/under budgetary constraints..........soon the tap will run dry for funding these long type of projects.

Piramal life sciences does have clinical research projects in the pipeline,but they are producing nothing much,just no luck.Now what we see is just increasing losses.

Ok stock is on upper circuit,yes these games keep being played as before.Any sustained upmove, exit on the rise as I feel that by 2012 the company will melt to neat zero levels in the global meltdown.The only logical possibility for a rise is insider information that Glaxo or some global pharma major is buying up the company.I had been continously advising a sell from 260 upto 50 levels...........watch now and exit smartly on this rise.Good Luck on this unlucky counter.

Thanks doctor for your professional comments which have depth and are visionary.I for one humbly say that I saw all this coming and have been pleading to the small-investor on this board to exit from 260 levels right upto 50 levels.Yes,I easily expect the company to be bankrupt in a few years.

I doubt whether you are a doctor. If you had thought about the expenses which you had incurred during your studies then you would have left studies.Any kind of rewards would be obtained after a period of time and after incurring some expenses.What would you call the initial investors in Hoechst, Glaxo, Glenmark etc ? fools?Then the share price was low and there were no revenues in sight? I think you would have already started changing your views by watching the upper circuits.

Its commonsense,initial investors in Hoechst,Glaxo,Glenmark entered the business cycle before the boom and did very well,Piramal life is entering when the bust is starting and are going headlong into the bust to be busted.

Listen,I tell U one thing;I have seen it time and again.......if you do not have Dame Luck with you then whatever you do it will never work.This has happened time and again and is happening with Piramal Life.

Of course,its going on upper circuit,who would buy this half-dead horse except the management and associates? Exit on the uprise.

I am not angry with you at all for ur remarks and whether I am a doctor or not is not an important issue at all.What is important is that many retail investors have been badly hurt by their investment in this stock and I think you are one among them.So its but natural for u to try to talk up your stock and if that helps you to reduce ur loss atleast to some extent I will only be happy.But I have stated only the truth and there is no compulsion on anyone to follow my advice.My point is let the company deliver some solid result and then if needed we can buy it even at 100 or 150 but for the present please do not go for this stock even if somebody is offering it to you for free!!!And you do not need to be even a doctor,its only a matter of common sense as you can easily notice from the consistently right calls given by jdosvd on this message board itself.Anyway best of luck to you and please don`t get angry,think with a cool mind instead.One of the most important qualities required to become a successful investor is to learn to accept your mistakes before its too late!!!!!

One more interesting thing which i picked up just now,to add to the existing woes-tha auditors of the company are a partner of