UT system among top college endowments

[TexasStooge]

Associated Press

A new study concludes the University of Texas system has the fourth largest endowment in the U.S. at $11.6 billion.

The National Association of College and University Business Officers conducted the study, which says the number of U.S. colleges with endowments topping $1 billion has jumped to 56. Nine schools, including Southern Methodist University in Dallas and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, joined 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. 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.

746 institutions were surveyed 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.

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 remaining six 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 and Smith College.
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Top 10 largest college endowments:

Top 10 colleges with the largest endowments. The University of California's general endowment pool supports multiple campuses; campuses may have additional endowments.

1. Harvard, $25.47 billion

2. Yale, $15.22 billion

3. Stanford, $12.21 billion

4. University of Texas System, $11.61 billion

5. Princeton, $11.21 billion

6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology $6.71 billion

7. University of California, $5.22 billion

8. Columbia, $5.19 billion

9. Texas A&M System and Foundations, $4.96 billion

10. University of Michigan $4.93 billion

Source: National Association of College and University Business Officers

[nholley]

Throw in 6th Street and those lovely Texan ladies......there is no finer place to study!

[kevin]

Throw in 6th Street and those lovely Texan ladies......there is no finer place to study!

That's what I've heard!

[GalvestonDuck]

Throw in 6th Street and those lovely Texan ladies......there is no finer place to study!

That's what I've heard!

Don't forget, the UT system expands outside the Austin area. UT is my employer also and I'm in Galveston.

Gotta agree with you about Texas gals.

[Stratosphere747]

I'll take the lovely ladies of A&M anyday over the Tsips....

[GalvestonDuck]

I'll take the lovely ladies of A&M anyday over the Tsips....

Tsips?

[Stratosphere747]

I'll take the lovely ladies of A&M anyday over the Tsips....

Tsips?

Must not be a native Texan?

It's a moniker that Aggies use for Longhorns.

[nholley]

I'll take the lovely ladies of A&M anyday over the Tsips....

Never!!!!




























(Ok...they are both nice)

[GalvestonDuck]

I'll take the lovely ladies of A&M anyday over the Tsips....

Tsips?

Must not be a native Texan?

It's a moniker that Aggies use for Longhorns.

Nope, and I have the bumper sticker - "I wasn't born here, but I got here as fast as I could."

Just wanted to know if it was something that I ought to have you edit. Didn't know if it was like that word that's one letter different than "milk."