Scholarships for the next academic year may be short in number or short in value.

That’s because the NIU Foundation is re-evaluating many of its endowments because of the current economic crisis, said Foundation President Mallory Simpson.

An endowment is a contribution a donor makes to the university for a specific scholarship, professorship or fund. Unlike a donation, however, the endowment is supposed to generate interest to pay for the specific item, and not the donation itself.

To do this, Simpson said the Foundation invests its 400 endowments in many places, especially in stocks.

“There is no way for a fund to be in perpetuity and have the same purchasing power it does today unless it is invested in equity,” Simpson said.

The volatile stock market, however, has caused several of these endowments to go “underwater,” meaning the endowment’s current value is less than it was given at. How many endowments are underwater is unknown, but Simpson said she is hoping to have numbers by Jan. 1.

Simpson said that this will affect the 2009-2010 school year.

“If a student was told he or she would be receiving a scholarship from a Foundation endowment fund this year, they will get that scholarship. It’s next year the underwater funds will have an impact,” Simpson said.

The Foundation is looking for other funding sources. It has launched the fundraising campaign, TrueNorth, in an effort to attract more donors. Simpson also mentioned the possibility of requesting additional money from donors, or diverting money from other scholarships to underwater endowments.

“We’re trying to protect things as much as possible,” Simpson said. She added, however, that more endowments will probably go underwater if the stock market continues to be volatile.

“If they do go underwater, we’re trying to make sure it’s for a couple years, and not a decade,” Simpson said.