Dive Brief:

• The value of college endowments collectively grew 4% in fiscal 2024 thanks to a combination of strong investment returns and a rise in donations, according to the latest data from the National Association of College and University Business Officers and asset management firm Commonfund.
• The total value of the endowments of the 658 institutions that participated in the study reached $873.7 billion for the year, with a median endowment value of $243 million. Of the survey respondents, 144 had endowments of $1 billion or more, comprising roughly 86% of the total value reported.
• Gifts to endowments rose to $15.2 billion from $12.7 billion last year, according to the study. Draws on funds rose as well, by 6.4% year over year to $30.1 billion in spending at institutions. 

Dive Insight:

Investment returns remained strong through 2024, supporting institutions’ spending from their endowments. Ten-year average annual returns stood at 6.8% for fiscal 2024, down slightly from last year but still robust enough to make spending with endowment money “possible and prudent,” NACUBO and Commonfund said in a press release. The average one-year return hit 11.2%, a 3.5 percentage point increase over 2023.

On average, endowments funded 14% of institutions’ operating budget, up from 10.9% in fiscal 2023, according to the NACUBO-Commonfund study. 

Student aid represented the largest share by far of endowment spending, at 48.1%, followed by academic programs and research at 17.7%. 

“Faculty and staff certainly benefit from this philanthropy, but students remain the primary beneficiaries, as the bulk of these resources is used to maintain student aid and affordability,” NACUBO President and CEO Kara Freeman said in a statement.

The list of the largest endowments looks very similar to that of years past. In the No. 1 spot, once again, is Harvard University, with a value of about $52 billion, up 5% from last year. Harvard is followed by the University of Texas System ($47.5 billion) and Yale University ($41.4 billion). 

Those wealthy endowments are once again in the spotlight as President Donald Trump and Republicans eye higher tax rates on colleges’ investment funds.

During Trump’s first term, he signed a tax bill containing a 1.4% levy against the investment income of private colleges whose endowments are valued at $500,000 or more per student. House Republicans this year floated a plan to jack that rate up to 14%. Others have proposed yet higher rates, including 21%, to be in line with the same rates paid by for-profit corporations. 

NACUBO addressed the politics around endowments in its release of the latest data. 

Pointing to how institutions use their endowments on student aid and other core functions, Freeman said, “This is incredibly important work and demonstrates how short-sighted it would be to further tax these funds and divert them from their true purpose.” 

Mark Anson, Commonfund CEO and chief investment officer, said at a Tuesday media briefing that institutions would have to take a close look at post-tax investment returns should higher rates become law. That could in turn push many to look at more aggressive investing strategies, while others would likely see the share of their operations financed by endowments fall, Anson added.