Yale University’s endowment might be smaller than that of Harvard University, but Yale’s endowment earned a larger return in the fiscal year that ended on June 30.
Yale’s $18-billion endowment, the second largest of any private university in the nation, rose 22.9 percent, according to a statement issued today by the university. Harvard’s endowment, valued at $29.2-billion, rose 16.7 percent during the same period (The Chronicle, September 20).
Yale’s president, Richard C. Levin, said in the statement that the $2.8-billion gain in the endowment “will allow the university to achieve new levels of education and research excellence.” The institution expects to spend $676-million from the endowment in the 2007 fiscal year.
The endowment’s contribution to Yale’s operating budget has more than doubled in the last 10 years, the university said. The endowment, which was valued at $4.9-billion a decade ago, is the institution’s single largest source of budgetary support. It is overseen by David Swensen, Yale’s chief investment officer (The Chronicle, September 2, 2005).
