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Endowments

Question:
How large are the endowments of colleges and universities in the United States?

Response:

At the end of fiscal year 2020, the market value of the endowment funds of colleges and universities was $691 billion, which was 2 percent higher than the beginning of the fiscal year, when the total was $675 billion.

The five institutions with the largest endowments at the end of fiscal year 2020 were Harvard University ($42 billion), Yale University ($31 billion), The University of Texas System ($31 billion), Stanford University ($29 billion), and Princeton University ($26 billion).

Endowment funds of the 20 degree-granting postsecondary institutions with the largest endowments, by rank order:
Fiscal year (FY) 2020
Institution Rank order1 Market value of endowment (in thousands)
Beginning of FY End of FY
United States (all institutions) $675,407,269 $691,019,781
Harvard University 1 40,929,700 41,894,380
Yale University 2 30,314,816 31,201,686
The University of Texas System Office 3 29,842,396 30,522,120
Stanford University 4 27,699,834 28,948,111
Princeton University 5 25,623,628 25,944,283
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 6 17,443,750 18,381,518
University of Pennsylvania 7 14,649,761 14,877,363
Texas A & M University–College Station 8 12,632,093 12,720,530
University of Notre Dame 9 11,565,964 12,319,422
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor 10 12,273,834 12,308,473
University of California–System Administration Central Office 11 11,891,155 12,267,010
Columbia University in the City of New York 12 10,950,738 11,257,021
Emory University 13 8,626,248 9,169,028
Washington University in St Louis 14 8,008,925 8,489,294
Northwestern University 15 8,244,818 8,484,706
Duke University 16 8,609,004 8,474,071
University of Chicago 17 7,244,603 7,199,521
University of Virginia–Main Campus 18 6,953,904 7,146,476
Vanderbilt University 19 6,270,877 6,917,371
Cornell University 20 6,974,637 6,882,708

† Not applicable.
1 Institutions ranked by size of endowment at end of 2020 fiscal year.

NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Degree-granting institutions grant associate's or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. In addition to individual degree-granting institution campuses, this table includes two state university systems (University of Texas System Office and University of California System Admin Central Office).

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (2022). Table 333.90. Endowment funds of the 120 degree-granting postsecondary institutions with the largest endowments, by rank order: Fiscal year 2020 [Data table]. In Digest of education statistics. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved August 22, 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_333.90.asp?current=yes.

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