10 Universities With the Biggest Endowments
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When a school has a large endowment, a pool of money or other financial assets that are donated, it can generate more cash for expenditures or investments.
The endowment can go toward expenditures such as an increase in salaries for faculty and staff, research, construction of new buildings or even generous financial aid packages.
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But while most endowments have grown over the last several years, one study found a downward swing during the 2016 fiscal year.
The NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments found that the return on endowment funds at higher education institutions dipped by around 1.9 percent on average for the 2016 fiscal year, based on data gathered from 805 colleges and universities.
"In spite of lower returns, colleges and universities continue to raise their endowment spending dollars to fund student financial aid, research, and other vital programs," said John Walda, president and CEO of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, in a January 2017 press statement.
The 10 colleges with the largest endowments in fiscal year 2016 were the same as the prior year, according to data reported by 1,158 ranked schools to U.S. News in an annual survey.
Harvard University remained on top with an endowment of around $35.7 billion. Similar to other universities, Harvard experienced a slight drop in its endowment. The school's endowment declined by nearly $1.95 billion compared with the prior fiscal year -- representing a decrease of 5 percentage points.
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Among the 10 colleges with the largest endowments at the end of fiscal year 2016, the average endowment was $16.6 billion -- this represents a drop of around $300 million compared with the prior year.
The median U.S. college endowment among ranked institutions at the end of fiscal year 2016 was $56.7 million.
All of the colleges with the largest endowments are National Universities, schools that emphasize research and offer not only bachelor's degrees but also master's and doctoral degrees.
Below is a list of the 10 universities with the largest endowments at the end of fiscal year 2016. Endowments were examined by campus, not across public university systems. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
School name (state) | End of fiscal year 2016 endowment | U.S. News rank |
Harvard University (MA) | $35,665,743,000 | 2 |
Yale University (CT) | $25,413,149,000 | 3 (tie) |
Stanford University (CA) | $22,398,130,000 | 5 (tie) |
Princeton University (NJ) | $21,703,500,000 | 1 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | $13,181,515,000 | 5 (tie) |
University of Pennsylvania | $10,715,364,000 | 8 |
Texas A&M University--College Station | $9,858,672,136 | 69 (tie) |
University of Michigan--Ann Arbor | $9,600,640,000 | 28 |
Columbia University (NY) | $9,041,027,000 | 5 (tie) |
University of Notre Dame (IN) | $8,748,266,000 | 18 (tie) |
Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find endowment data, complete rankings and much more. Sign up for the U.S. News Extra Help: College Admissions free email newsletter to receive expert advice twice a month.
U.S. News surveyed more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2017 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The endowment data above are correct as of Sept. 28, 2017.
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