By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
Princeton University’s endowment grew to $16.4 billion, a 5.6 percent annual investment return for the fiscal year ended June 30, according to figures released by the university.
The investment return dropped sharply from the 24.7 percent annual return recorded for the endowment in fiscal year 2007, and is the first single-digit rate of return recorded for the university endowment since 2003, reflecting the current turbulent market for investments.
”To speak of the current state of the economy, since the end of our fiscal year June 30, the endowment has gotten smaller,” said university spokeswoman Emily Aronson in an email.
”These are market declines of historic proportions and we are not immune to this,” Ms. Aronson said. “That said, we’ve done relatively well. We generally have been experiencing less than half the losses that public markets have,” she said.
Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO), the arm of Princeton University responsible for the management of the university’s endowment, bested Yale University which reported a 4.5 percent return on its endowment, which grew to $22.5 billion, for the June 30, 2008 fiscal year. Harvard University, which has the largest endowment in the nation, earned an 8.6 percent return on its endowment, bringing it to $36.9 billion, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008.
In 2007, Harvard, Yale and Princeton ranked No. 1, 2 and 4 among U.S. institutions of higher education having the largest endowments, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
Ms. Aronson noted that the investment focus of Princeton’s endowment is long-term, with the endowment “meant to provide benefits into perpetuity.” The 10-year annualized return for the Princeton University endowment is 14.9 percent. Yale’s endowment has returned an annualized 16.3 percent, and Harvard’s 13.8 percent, over the past 10 years, according to figures released by those universities.

