By comparison, a recent study by the Commonfund Institute found the average annual endowment return at minus 5.4 percent in fiscal year 2002.
By: Jeff Milgram
At a time when most Americans are losing money on their 401(k) plans and stock portfolios, Princeton University is still making money on its $8.3 billion endowment.
To be sure, the university’s endowment fund is making less money than it did two years ago, but it still posted a 2.2-percent profit in the 2002 fiscal year, Andrew Golden, president of the Princeton University Investment Co., confirmed Monday.
At the same time, Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 18 percent, the index’s worst performance in 32 years.
A year ago, Princeton’s endowment posted a 2.4-percent gain, far below the 36.5-percent return in the 2000 fiscal year.
By comparison, a recent study by the Commonfund Institute found the average annual endowment return at minus 5.4 percent in fiscal year 2002, according to this week’s edition of The Princeton Alumni Weekly.
Schools in the study with endowments of more than $1 billion reported an average loss of 3.43 percent, the weekly said.
In general terms, Princeton made some short-term reallocation of assets that had been invested in U.S. stocks, the weekly said.
Princo shifted investments to emerging markets, which returned over 14 percent and made up about 10 percent of the endowment, and real assets, which returned nearly 8 percent and accounted for about 13 percent of the university’s investments, Mr. Golden confirmed.
Private equities lost 23 percent and domestic equities lost 7 percent, he confirmed.
Princeton’s endowment is the fourth largest in the country.