Princeton endowment posts 14.7 percent return

Princeton’s endowment earned a 14.7 percent return on investments during the year ending June 30, the University announced Oct. 15. The endowment was valued at $14.4 billion as of June 30, up from $12.6 billion a year earlier.

 

Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83 cited the “strong performance” of the University endowment, which followed a year in which the endowment’s investment return was -23.5 percent. He said the growth in the endowment, financial support from alumni and other donors, and two years of budget reductions have enabled Princeton to avoid the need for further spending cuts.

 

 “The endowment’s performance brings us back within our target band for spending, but we will need to demonstrate continuing budget discipline to contend with the effects of the recent financial crisis and persistent economic uncertainty,” Eisgruber said. The endowment is managed by the Princeton University Investment Co. (Princo).

 

Following is a list of investment returns reported by other schools for the past year: Columbia, 17 percent; Stanford, 14.4 percent; Penn, 12.6 percent; Cornell, 12.6 percent; Harvard, 11 percent; MIT, 10.2 percent; Dartmouth, 10 percent; Brown, 10 percent; and Yale, 8.9 percent.

 

For more details on Princeton’s endowment’s results, see the Nov. 17 issue of PAW.