DATE: Friday, June 13, 1997                 TAG: 9706130754

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   72 lines

SALE OF IFE PUTS REGENT IN RANKS OF RICH SCHOOLS ONLY THREE VIRGINIA UNIVERSITIES WILL HAVE BIGGER ENDOWMENTS.

Regent University has catapulted to a place among the 100 richest universities, in terms of endowment, with the sale of Pat and Tim Robertson's International Family Entertainment Inc.

Regent estimates that the sale Wednesday of its 4.2 million shares of IFE stock to Fox Kids Worldwide Inc. will increase its endowment to $276.5 million.

``It's like another door has opened to a set of steps that will lead us to a new level of excellence,'' said W. George Selig, the university's provost. ``. . . It pretty well assures our longevity.''

It's too early to say where the money will go, but Selig foresees hiring big-name faculty, expanding technology, creating think tanks.

Regent is a Christian graduate school founded by Pat Robertson, who remains the school's chancellor. With the stock sale, Regent would rank No. 96 on the latest university endowment list, compiled by the National Association of College and University BusinessOfficers earlier this year.

Only three Virginia universities have bigger endowments - the University of Virginia's $937 million, the University of Richmond's $551 million and Washington & Lee's $501 million. Regent would top both Virginia Tech - $246 million - and the College of William and Mary - $244 million.

Regent had ranked 123rd with a reported endowment of $199 million.

Regent's president, Terry Lindvall, was out of town Thursday. He said in a statement: ``Our vision to have a global impact for Christian thought and action will be realized. It is our intention to revive a biblical and classical tradition for the intellectual community, while at the same time taking our Christian faith into all professions as a model of light.''

Universities usually don't dip into their endowments, using only a portion of the earnings and reinvesting the rest.

``It gives you a flexibility to weather hard times when other sources of income are not coming across,'' said Donald J. Finley, associate director of finance for the State Council of Higher Education. ``If you are having a bad year in enrollment and tuition revenue is down, it gives you another source of income.''

Larry Goldstein, vice president of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, said the earnings from endowments have been used for a variety of programs - scholarships, faculty salaries, acquisitions for the library. ``Some schools on the West Coast literally endow their athletic programs,'' he said.

Finley noted that U.Va.'s endowment allowed it to give faculty raises in the early '90s when the state allotted no money for raises. More recently, the university has added to state-financed raises with endowment money.

Selig said his wish list for the money includes:

Hiring ``name'' faculty members. ``We have very good scholars, but we have very few name scholars,'' he said. ``Name scholars can really contribute to the literature of the field and obviously to the reputation of Regent.''

Expanding the number of think tanks, such as the recently created Center for the Study of Faith and Culture.

Increasing and modernizing technology. ``This will help us stay on the leading edge of technology,'' Selig said, ``and will allow us to replace our equipment in a timely manner.''

Increasing financial aid, especially for foreign students. ``We see ourselves as an international university; this would allow us to do more outreach to underdeveloped countries that couldn't handle our tuition.'' Regent has about 1,600 students, 10 percent of whom are foreign students, Selig said.

Regent's windfall stems from a 1992 gift to the university by Pat Robertson and the Christian Broadcasting Network of a $100 million note convertible to stock shares in IFE.

Regent was once financially dependent on CBN - a factor that made the American Bar Association initially reluctant to grant accreditation to Regent's law school. Now, Robertson's gift has helped cement the university's financial freedom.

``We have improved both in numbers and in quality,'' Selig said.

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