At issue was a proposed tax on private universities with endowments larger than $250,000 per student. Republicans wanted to add a 1.4 percent tax on those endowments to help pay for the other tax cuts in their bill. But the GOP changed the criteria late Friday night so the tax would affect schools with endowments larger than $500,000 per student. Several of the Pennsylvania schools were likely to avoid the levy because of that change. Hillsdale might also avoid it.