56 Colleges Have Endowments Topping $1B

[smupony94]

56 Colleges Have Endowments Topping $1B By JUSTIN POPE, AP Education Writer
Mon Jan 23, 12:34 AM ET



The number of North American 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.

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Harvard remained the richest, with $25.5 billion, followed by Yale with $15.2 billion.

The wealthiest per student was Rockefeller University in New York, which has no undergraduates, followed by Olin College, a small engineering school in Massachusetts that opened in 2002 and pays full tuition for all students.

The National Association of College and University Business Officers surveyed 746 institutions for the study. It found that those institutions earned an average 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.

The NACUBO survey follows the release last week of a similar survey by the Commonfund Institute. That survey, which tracks endowments of 729 colleges, independent schools and educational foundations, reported average returns of 9.7 percent.

The surveys show once again that institutions that already have money find it easier to make more of it. Endowments with more than $1 billion earned 13.8 percent last year, NACUBO found, while institutions with under $100 million earned less than 9 percent.

Over the last decade, billionaire colleges have earned 12 percent per year, compared to 7.9 percent for colleges under $25 million.

The reason is that richer colleges can afford more sophisticated financial advice, and to make riskier bets. The billionaire colleges had 21.7 percent of their endowments invested in hedge funds last year, compared to 2.4 percent for the poorest schools. They also invested higher percentages in private equity, venture capital, real estate and natural resources.

Such investments generally have high minimum investments that only larger endowments can afford, said Jessica Shedd, NACUBO's director of research and policy analysis. And larger endowments "just have a greater ability to tie up funds for a longer period of time. They can afford to have less liquidity than other schools need."

The University of Toronto became the first Canadian institution to amass $1 billion in American dollars. Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England are believed to be the only other non-U.S. schools with endowments that size.

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

[SMU Football Blog]

This article is interesting:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/13690458.htm

A couple of months ago, the TCU people were on here saying their endowment was bigger than SMU's and that their's was over $1B. Not true. It was in 2000, and then it dropped below and hasn't gotten back above it. SMU's endowment is over $1B.

Done.

[LonghornFan68]

My endowment is worth $1billion. Wait. Heh.

[OC Mustang]

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

4 public schools (is Cinn public /private?...I think public) UW, UN, UD, UC
2 large private schools (Harvard & Yale)
2 small private schools (Amherst & Smith)
1 grad school (Baylor Medicine)
and SMU.

Hmm.

Are we over or underperforming our peers vis-a-vis this group?

[abezontar]

Underperforming.....

[SMU Football Blog]

We are in the top 56, which is better than our ranking in US News; it is better than where we rank as far as university size. I would say we are overperforming as the size of endowment relative to comparable institutions.

As far as fundraising goes, I think SMU generally underperforms as far as a participation percentage goes, though SMU makes up for it on the size of the donations. I don't recall where I read that ... some faculty senate report.

[Terry Webster]

Univ of Cinci is a state school.

[PK]

My endowment is worth $1billion. Wait. Heh.

Dream on...

[that's great raplh]

SMU is lucky to have some wealthy alums - now if only one of them will pull a t boone....

[Dutch]

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

4 public schools (is Cinn public /private?...I think public) UW, UN, UD, UC
2 large private schools (Harvard & Yale)
2 small private schools (Amherst & Smith)
1 grad school (Baylor Medicine)
and SMU.

Hmm.

Are we over or underperforming our peers vis-a-vis this group?

what are you referring to? why do you put Harvard and Yale in with these 8? they are at the top of the list, and the 8 you listed just joined. they are also among the oldest universities in the country, versus SMU and Baylor, relatively 'new' universities by comparison. your "analysis" makes absolutely no sense to me. by what standard are you comparing these schools?

[friarwolf]

Rumor is our endowment is getting ready to grow by $33,000,000.....

Good point is raised about the % of alums contributing to SMU. We get hammered every year in the rankings due to our low % of contributing alums. I wish SMU would ask the sororities to man a phone bank once a year for a couple of days and sweetly ask alums for money. I bet the percentage would shoot upwards.......

[mrydel]

Rumor is our endowment is getting ready to grow by $33,000,000.....

Good point is raised about the % of alums contributing to SMU. We get hammered every year in the rankings due to our low % of contributing alums. I wish SMU would ask the sororities to man a phone bank once a year for a couple of days and sweetly ask alums for money. I bet the percentage would shoot upwards.......

More luck if they go door to door.

[Stallion]

actually Baylor is one of the oldest universities in Texas and was established at about the time of the Civil War which was about 50 years before SMU.

[SoCal_Pony]

Rumor is our endowment is getting ready to grow by $33,000,000.....

care to elaborate??

[friarwolf]

something should be released soon regarding the gift.............