Quick Question

Parents Forum
1

<p>How does Wash U have such a large endowment? It seems to have come out of nowhere. Is it state-funded? Some really really rich alumni? I don’t see how they have the money to have so many merit-based scholarships and attract so many quality students…</p>

2

<p>Wash U grads are very, very generous. Particularily those that remain in St Louis.</p>

3

<p>Wash U is private. How large is their endowment, compared with other private universities?</p>

4

<p>Endowment data from 2003 (Harvard’s endowment currently stands at $22 billion):</p>

<p>Rank Institution Endowment1

  1. Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.) $19,294,735,000
  2. Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) 11,048,891,000
  3. Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.) 8,730,000,000
  4. Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford, Calif.) 8,613,805,000
  5. Univ. of Texas System Administration (Austin, Tex.) 8,588,471,301
  6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.) 5,133,600,000
  7. Columbia University (New York, N.Y.) 4,343,151,000
  8. Emory University (Atlanta, Ga.) 3,812,033,219
  9. Washington University (St. Louis, Mo.) 3,569,344,000
  10. University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pa.) 3,547,473,030
  11. University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.) 3,531,704,067
  12. Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.) 3,370,776,878
  13. Texas A&M University (College Station, Tex.) 3,158,170,351
  14. University of Chicago (Chicago, Ill.) 3,079,097,000
  15. Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.) 3,029,922,000
  16. William Marsh Rice University (Houston, Tex.) 2,938,000,000
  17. University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Ind.) 2,609,000,000
  18. Duke University (Durham, N.C.) 2,565,162,568
  19. Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.) 2,432,724,780
  20. University of Southern California (Los Angeles, Calif.) 2,113,666,000
  21. Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn.) 1,987,810,494
  22. University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Va.) 1,832,866,000
  23. Univ of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, Calif.) 1,793,647,345
  24. Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.) 1,646,897,000
  25. Univ. of Texas at Austin (Austin, Tex.) 1,640,723,834</p>
5

<p>I have often wondered where the endowment goes. For example, does this help stabilize tuition? Provide financial aid? Build new dorms? Or is it a variation of all of these things?</p>

6

<p>I would guess the endowment stays invested and the profits and royalties get spent on capital improvements, endowed chairs and scholarships or grants.</p>

7

<p>I think Mr. B had the right idea - otherwise endowment levels would fluctuate quite a bit since the principle would be constantly being spent.</p>

8

<p>I think most schools draw on endowment income to cover some annual operating expenses. They can’t operate strictly on tuition income, or even that plus annual fund gifts and grants. </p>

<p>This doesn’t mean they draw down the endowment; rather, they use part of endowment earnings (return on investments) to pay for current operations, and the rest they leave in general endowment. </p>

<p>Of course, a fair bit of endowment money may be earmarked in one way or another, such as for endowed chairs and professorships, scholarships and fellowships, and the like.</p>