TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In recent years, the largest university endowments amounted to over $870 billion in assets. This number has experienced a moderate leap of 4% in 2024 compared to the previous year, thanks to donations and investment returns. Using the data from Visual Capitalist, Investopedia, and US News, let’s take a closer look at some universities with the largest endowments in the United States.
What is a university endowment?
University endowments are donations of money or other financial assets that are used for a specific purpose. In the case of academic institutions, the resulting investment income has the legal structure of becoming a self-sustaining source for operations or programs within the institution body.
As noted by Investopedia, most university endowments are designed to preserve the principal amount intact while operating the investment income instead. Historically, these donations are spent for charitable efforts in accordance with the wishes of the donor.
Much like many financial frameworks, endowment funds are subject to certain guidelines that state the amount of investment income to spend. For instance, Harvard University has 5% of their billions of dollars in endowments to spend each year.
Types of Endowments
According to Investopedia, there are four types of endowments, with suggestions as follows:
Term endowments that have a certain period of time in terms of principal donations, which can be expended.
Unrestricted endowments where institutions are eligible to spend, save, invest, and distribute the donated assets at their own will.
A quasi-endowment is made by an individual or institution whose intent is rather specific. The principal of these endowments is typically sustained while institutions gain benefit by spending the earnings.
Restricted endowments that have their principal held are usually designed to donate the investments’ earnings per donor’s specification.
Universities with the Largest Endowments
Based on the data published by Visual Capitalist, Harvard University has the largest university endowment at $52 billion, while the University of Texas System follows suit at $47.5 billion. Other institutions with remarkable amounts of endowments as of fiscal year 2024 also include
Harvard University—$52 Billion
University of Texas—$48 Billion
Yale University—$41 Billion
Stanford University—$38 Billion
Princeton University—$34 Billion
Massachusetts Institute of Technology—$25 Billion
University of Pennsylvania—$22 Billion
The Texas A&M University—$20 Billion
University of Michigan—$19 Billion
University of California—$19 Billion
University of Notre Dame—$17 Billion
Columbia University—$15 Billion
Northwestern University—$14 Billion
Johns Hopkins University—$13 Billion
Washington University—$12 Billion
Duke University—$12 Billion
Cornell University—$11 Billion
Vanderbilt University—$10 Billion
University of Virginia—$10 Billion
The University of Chicago—$10 Billion
Dartmouth College—$8 Billion
University of Southern California
Rice University—$8 Billion
The Ohio State University—$8 Billion
With billions of dollars in assets, these largest university endowments enable institutions to support scholarships, research initiatives, faculty development, and campus improvements, all while preserving long-term financial health.
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