Harvard University has had a good COVID lockdown period, according to university records.

In fact, Harvard, and a slew of other universities, have made a pile.

Here's what one independent researcher has found from looking at university annual reports:

Covid panic makes Universities money:

How beneficial has COVID measures been to universities?

In cutting services to students, Harvard went from a operating SURPLUS of $283 MILLION, as opposed to 2020 where there was a DEFICIT of $10 million. pic.twitter.com/yJmD9KUkCy

— Show Me The Data (@txsalth2o) January 22, 2022

And their endowment? Grew by 33% last year- from $41.9 BILLION to $53.2 BILLIONhttps://t.co/U3IA3LAcfA pic.twitter.com/c9KmrSOcH4

— Show Me The Data (@txsalth2o) January 22, 2022

She found that the same was true for Yale, whose endowment rose by a biggest-ever 25% and whose total return on investments was above 40%.

Duke University saw a 56% return.  The University of North Carolina saw a 42% rise.  Stanford saw a 40% return on its endowment.  The University of Massachusetts saw a 32% return.  Her thread on Twitter with these data is here.

Harvard attributed the sudden gain in their position to "generous contributions" and a "disciplined focus on financial management."

The more likely reason, according to the anonymous researcher, whose Twitter handle is "show me the data," is that COVID lockdowns, which converted all university learning from regular classroom learning, to Zoom classrooms, with no corresponding drop in price, has left a lot of money on the table for universities such as Harvard.  These universities have cut services yet delivered the same product without them, making themselves piles and piles of money.

No wonder these guys are so fond of keeping the lockdowns extended for as long as possible.  And these characters remain all in for forgiving student loan debt even as they profit from raising their prices.

Follow the money.  

Image: Library of Congress via Picryl, public domain.