Investment returns for latest period were 19.5 percent
By: Jake Uitti
Princeton University’s endowment has grown to $13 billion in the past year and investment returns for the 2005-2006 year were 19.5 percent compared to 17 percent last year, the university announced.
The university has a 10-year average of 15.6 percent for investment returns, said university spokeswoman Cass Cliatt in explaining the endowment numbers.
The endowment growth in 2005-2006 is 16.1 percent, Ms. Cliatt added.
"We’re quite pleased with the investment returns," she said. "It was an excellent year for the returns, especially considering we had the benchmarking goal of keeping it in the low double-digit percent range."
Ms. Cliatt continued, "Our goal is to have an endowment that gives the university the resources necessary to provide a level of education we want for our students."
She said the university tries to keep an endowment performance rate that allows it to spend 4 to 5 percent of the endowment annually while also accounting for inflation and allowing the endowment to grow.
Ms. Cliatt said the university’s endowment has added $5 billion in value over the past 10 years.
Princeton’s endowment ranks fifth in the nation for private universities. Harvard’s total endowment is $29.2 billion the largest university endowment in the world and Yale is second at $18 billion.
Princeton’s endowment, however, is the largest per student in the Ivy League and second largest among the nation’s undergraduate institutions, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

