Princeton’s Endowment Grows 12.7 Percent, Reaches $22.7 Billion

For the 2014 fiscal year, Princeton University was the fourth wealthiest private university in the nation.
For the 2014 fiscal year, Princeton University was the fourth wealthiest private university in the nation.

Princeton University’s endowment grew 12.7 percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30, school officials announced today. The endowment value stood at $22.7 billion, about $1.7 billion more than the previous year.

Yale University reported that its endowment generated 11.5 percent return for its most recent fiscal year, bringing its value to $25.6 billion. Harvard University’s endowment increased 5.8 percent.

The average annual return on the endowment at Princeton University for the past decade has been 10.1 percent, which places the school among the top percentile of 471 institutions listed by the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service.

The Princeton University Investment Co., the University office that manages the endowment, will certify the results during a meeting of its directors on Oct. 22.

“The continuing strong performance of the endowment makes it possible to sustain the University’s generous financial aid, which makes it possible for any student who is admitted to attend Princeton, regardless of ability to pay and without the need for loans,” Provost David S. Lee said.

Princeton students from families with the U.S. median household income of $54,000 or less typically pay no tuition and their grants cover room, board and other expenses. Most students from families with incomes up to $140,000 pay no tuition. For an average family with income around $160,000, grant support covers roughly 80 percent of tuition, school officials said.

About 18 percent of the freshman class of 2018 received Pell grants, up from 7.2 percent for the freshman Class of 2008, officials said.

2 Comments

  1. $1.7Billion in incremental endowment growth, which includes the negative draw-down of ~4%for use in operations, is a staggering number.

    Total Princeton municipal budget — approx $60million.
    Total Princeton schools budget — approx $90million
    Total of what Princeton receives from their undergraduates — approx $150~$200million (given that most of the 4,800 or so undergrads pay way less than the stated tuition and room/board rates).

    So if Princeton University paid the entire public school and municipal budgets of the town of Princeton AND made tuition and room/board for all their undergraduates $0/year, the endowment would still have INcreased by $1.3Billion to $22.4Billion.

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