01.28.06
$1 billion endowments
More than 50 colleges now have more than $1 billion endowments
– reported by KTRK ABC Channel 13
The number of U.S. colleges with endowments topping $1 billion has jumped to 56, a new study says, with nine schools joining the elite club in what was an average year for university investments overall.
Harvard remained the richest, with $25.5 billion, followed by Yale with $15.2 billion.
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The National Association of College and University Business Officers surveyed 746 institutions for the study. It found that those institutions earned a median of 9.3 percent on their investments in the year ending June 30, compared to 15.1 percent in fiscal 2004 and 3 percent in 2003.
Colleges typically spend about 5 percent of their endowment per year to support everything from scholarships to landscaping. Accounting for inflation and management fees, the investments generally need to earn about 9 percent to preserve their spending power. Last year’s 9.3 percent return precisely matched the 10-year average.
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The other eight universities passing the $1 billion endowment mark were: University of Wisconsin Foundation, University of Nebraska and Foundation, University of Delaware, University of Cincinnati, Amherst College, Smith College, Southern Methodist University, and Baylor College of Medicine
