A recent national survey conducted in the year 2015 on 812 colleges concluded that growth of endowments of colleges has slowed down. It shows a growth rate of 2.4% compared to 15.5% in the year 2014, on an average. The universities that are reliant on endowments are facing problems with the latter’s slow growth. On an average, around 10% of the operating funds of these universities come from endowments.
It's a no-brainer that more the privilege, more the luxury. Any endowment is directly proportional to the option of spending. So, colleges with large endowments clearly have more money to spend on funding of research, financial aid, extracurricular activities, facilities, and academic programs. Endowments are vital for the educational mission of these institutions.
All the colleges on the list are National Universities, implying they put greater emphasis on research and offered graduate, postgraduate and doctoral degrees. The average endowment for all the universities put together was $16.9 billion for the year 2015, compared to $16.2 billion for the year 2014. The median endowment was estimated to be around $58.8 million for the year 2015.
To ascertain the universities with the greatest endowments, more than 1800 colleges and universities were surveyed by U.S News. The results for the year 2015 were similar to those of 2014. Nine out of ten universities increased their endowment size with an exception of Texas A&M University- College Station. Its endowment was $9.75 billion for the year 2015, compared to $10.52 billion for the year 2014.
Harvard University topped the ranks with $37.6 billion endowments. At second position reigned in Yale University, with an endowment of $25.5 billion. With an endowment of $22.29 billion, Princeton University came in third. The fourth position was bagged by Stanford University with $22.22 billion of endowment. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania achieved fifth and sixth positions with endowments of $13.4 billion and $10.1 billion respectively. University of Michigan- Ann Arbor found the seventh position in the list with $9.8 billion endowments while Texas A&M University- College Station was ranked at eighth. Ninth and tenth positions went to Columbia University and the University of Notre Dame, with endowments of $9.6 billion and $8.7 billion, respectively.
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