List of U.S. colleges and universities by endowment on:
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Many institutions of higher education in the United States maintain
Many institutions of higher education in the United States maintain financial endowment
A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are o ...
s—sums of money that are invested in stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which owners ...
s, yielding returns that fund a portion of an institution's operational expenses and help ensure it survives in perpetuity.
U.S. colleges and universities maintain some of the largest endowments in the world, and make up the strong majority of educational institutions with endowments greater than $1 billion.
The National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) maintains information on college endowments. In 2005, the endowment table totaled $219.37 billion. By 2015, the table totaled $394.96 billion, an increase of 80%, and in 2018, the total further increased to $479.23 billion. , the total stood at $854.11 billion, with an average across all institutions of $1.1621 billion and median of $2.0102 million.
Strong returns in fiscal year
A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many j ...
2020-21 led the largest university endowments to soar. The four largest endowments — Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher l ...
, Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...
, Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, and Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
— increased in value from $127.24 billion to $171 billion in a single year.
Enhancements and levies
The tabulated data below are from NACUBO. Some universities benefit from endowments that are not under their direct control but which are nonetheless dedicated to the welfare of one or several institutions. Examples includeThe Duke Endowment
The Duke Endowment is a private foundation established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke. It supports selected programs of higher education, health care, children's welfare, and spiritual life in North Carolina and South ...
, the Robert A. Welch Foundation, and the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust.
In 2017, a federal endowment tax
Endowment tax is the taxation of financial endowments that are otherwise not taxed due to their charitable, educational, or religious mission. Endowments can be up to several billion dollars at some universities, some charitable foundations, and ...
was enacted in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
The Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018, , is a congressional revenue act of the United States originally introduced in Congress as the Tax Cuts and Jobs A ...
in the form of an excise tax of 1.4% on institutions that have at least 500 tuition-paying students and net assets of at least $500,000 per student. The $500,000 is not adjusted for inflation, so the threshold is effectively lowered over time.
The endowment tax provision of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has been criticized as funding tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy at the expense of education. Critics note that the tax could threaten financial aid for low-income students, stifle social mobility, and obstruct life-saving research. There continue to be vigorous efforts that advocate the repeal of the tax. Repeal legislation with bipartisan cosponsorship was introduced, but not passed, by both the 115th United States Congress
The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2017, to January 3 ...
and 116th United States Congress
The 116th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019, and ended on January ...
.
Endowments greater than $1 billion
Private schools
Public schools
Endowments per student greater than $2 million
See also
* Lists of institutions of higher education by endowment sizeReferences
{{reflist, 35em Endowment Financial endowments Education finance in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...