Stock Gains Power 11.7% Growth in University Endowments

Confirming preliminary results issued last fall, a benchmark review of college endowments found they grew in value by 11.7 percent to $448.6-billion in 2013, a sharp improvement from 2012’s flat results, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

Leaders of the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the Commonfund Institute, which collaborate on the annual survey of more than 800 North American colleges’ financial performance, credited last year’s robust stock market for the endowment gains. University endowments collectively declined in value by 0.3 percent in 2012.

The new numbers were unusually consistent across institutions of widely varying wealth. Colleges with endowments of less than $25-million and those with more than $1-billion in assets both saw 11.7-percent growth, although the former group tends to follow a more traditional, stock-based strategy while the richest schools invest heavily in alternative vehicles such as commodities and private equity.

Harvard University remained the nation’s wealthiest institution of higher learning, with a $32.33-billion endowment, followed by Yale ($20.78-billion), the University of Texas system ($20.45-billion), Stanford ($18.69-billion), and Princeton ($18.20-billion).

Read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s special report on the state of U.S. endowments.