US college and university endowments reported 944.3 billion dollars in assets in fiscal 2025, earned an average 10.9% return and paid out a record 33.4 billion dollars to their institutions, 11.0% more than a year earlier (NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025). That money funded 15.2% of the average participant’s operating budget, and nearly half of it, 47.4%, went to student financial aid. The wealth is heavily concentrated: the median endowment was 253.6 million dollars, while Harvard alone reported 55.7 billion dollars. And starting with tax years after December 31, 2025, the richest private universities pay an 8% excise tax on net investment income, up from 1.4%. For the price side of the same equation, see our college tuition statistics. We aggregated data from the NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments, university financial reports from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT and Penn, Moody’s Ratings, the American Enterprise Institute, TIFF Investment Management, Cambridge Associates and the other sources listed in the methodology.
TL;DR
- 657 US institutions reported 944.3 billion dollars in endowment assets in FY25 (NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025).
- The median endowment was 253.6 million dollars; more than one-quarter held 100 million dollars or less (NACUBO-Commonfund 2025).
- The average one-year return was 10.9% in FY25, versus 11.2% in FY24 (NACUBO-Commonfund 2025).
- The 10-year average return rose to 7.7% from 6.8% (NACUBO-Commonfund 2025).
- Endowment spending hit 33.4 billion dollars, up 11.0%, at a 4.9% effective spending rate (NACUBO-Commonfund 2025).
- Endowments funded 15.2% of operating budgets, up from 14.0% (NACUBO-Commonfund 2025).
- 47.4% of endowment spending went to student financial aid (NACUBO-Commonfund 2025).
- New gifts to endowments fell 9.2% to just under 14.0 billion dollars (NACUBO-Commonfund 2025).
- 54.5% of endowment assets sat in private or alternative strategies (NACUBO-Commonfund 2025).
- Stanford’s Merged Pool returned 31.7% and Penn’s endowment 27.4% in FY26 (Stanford Report, September 2026; Penn Office of Investments, 2026).
- The endowment excise tax now has tiers of 1.4%, 4% and 8%, applying only to schools with 3,000 or more tuition-paying students (NACUBO, July 2025).
- Harvard’s first-year tax bill could reach 368 million dollars (American Enterprise Institute, July 2025).
- The share of private colleges with negative EBIDA margins is forecast to reach 16% (Moody’s Ratings via Higher Ed Dive, November 2025).
1. Investment Returns: Double Digits, With Size Still Paying Off
FY25 was the second double-digit year in a row, and the more telling number is the long-term one. The 10-year average return rose to 7.7%, from 6.8% a year earlier (NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments, February 2026). With the average endowment spending 4.9% a year, the 10-year figure is the one boards watch: it has to cover that payout plus inflation before the fund grows in real terms, and a single strong year does little to move it.
Size still matters, but less than the headlines suggest. Endowments over 5 billion dollars earned 11.8% against 10.5% for those between 101 and 250 million dollars, a 1.3 percentage point gap, and NACUBO’s key-insights deck notes that return dispersion tightened to 2.4 percentage points from 3.1 in FY24 (NACUBO, Summary and Key Insights from the 2025 NCSE). Among billion-dollar endowments, TIFF Investment Management counted an average 11.5% return (Chief Investment Officer, November 2025).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average one-year return, FY25 | 10.9% (FY24: 11.2%) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Three-year / five-year average return | 10.0% (from 3.4%) / 10.2% (from 8.3%) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| 10-year average return | 7.7% (FY24: 6.8%) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Return, endowments over 5 billion dollars | 11.8% (highest cohort) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Return, endowments of 101 to 250 million dollars | 10.5% (lowest cohort) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Return by type | Foundations and combined 11.1%, public 10.9%, private 10.8% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Return dispersion across cohorts | 2.4 points (FY24: 3.1) | NACUBO, Key Insights 2025 NCSE |
| Average return, endowments of 1 billion dollars or more | 11.5% | TIFF Investment Management via Chief Investment Officer, 2025 |
Context note: TIFF attributes FY25 to public markets (S&P 500 up 15.2%, MSCI ACWI ex-US up 17.7%) more than private ones (private equity 9.7%, venture capital 12.8%), which explains why heavily private portfolios did not lead the pack that year.
2. Individual Universities: Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the FY26 Surge
Harvard, Yale and Princeton landed within about one percentage point of the 10.9% national average in FY25, which undercuts the idea that the richest schools have a magic formula. Harvard returned 11.9%, Yale 11.1%, Princeton 11% and MIT 14.8% in FY25 (Harvard FY25 Financial Overview; Yale News, October 2025). Columbia led the Ivies at 12.4%, with Cornell second at 12.3% (Chief Investment Officer, October 2025).
FY26 looks very different. The first reports for the year ending June 30, 2026 show Stanford’s Merged Pool up 31.7% and Penn’s endowment up 27.4%, Penn’s second-best year after the 41.1% of FY21 (Stanford Report, September 2026; Penn Office of Investments). MIT, by contrast, reported 10.3% (MIT News, October 2026). Stanford cites a preliminary Cambridge Associates median of 15.5% for US college and university endowments, so dispersion is back.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Harvard, FY25 | 11.9% return; 56.9 billion dollars (from 53.2 billion) | Harvard FY25 Financial Overview |
| Yale, FY25 | 11.1% return; 4.5 billion dollars in gains; 44.1 billion dollars | Yale News, October 2025 |
| Princeton, FY25 | 11% return (best in four years); 36.4 billion dollars | Princeton Alumni Weekly, October 2025 |
| MIT / Michigan / UW-Madison, FY25 | 14.8% / 15.5% / 16.2% | Chief Investment Officer, November 2025 |
| Stanford Merged Pool, FY26 | 31.7% return; 61.5 billion dollars; 10-year 12.5% | Stanford Report, September 2026 |
| Penn, FY26 | 27.4% return; 24.8 to 31.1 billion dollars | Penn Office of Investments, 2026 |
| MIT, FY26 | 10.3% return; 29.2 billion dollars; 10-year 11.7% | MIT News, October 2026 |
| Median US college endowment, FY26 (preliminary) | 15.5% | Cambridge Associates via Stanford Report, 2026 |
Context note: Penn’s year-by-year record shows how lumpy these numbers are: 0.98% in FY22, 1.3% in FY23, 7.1% in FY24 and 12.2% in FY25 before 27.4% in FY26 (Chief Investment Officer, September 2026). Yale’s 10-year return of 9.4% beat comparable college endowments by about 1.4 points a year (Yale News, 2025).
3. Size and Concentration: A 944 Billion Dollar Sector With a 254 Million Dollar Median
The total is enormous, but the typical endowment is not. The median endowment among 657 US participants was 253.6 million dollars, and more than one-quarter held 100 million dollars or less (NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025). At the other end, the five largest endowments in NACUBO’s FY25 market-value list (Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT) add up to about 204.4 billion dollars, or roughly 21.6% of the 944.3 billion dollar total (204.4 / 944.3).
That concentration is why policy debates about “endowments” are really about a few dozen institutions. A small private college with a 50 million dollar fund and Harvard are governed by the same accounting term but face entirely different economics. Enrollment pressure at the small end is tracked in our college enrollment statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US participants / total endowment assets, FY25 | 657 / 944.3 billion dollars | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Median endowment, FY25 | 253.6 million dollars | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Participants with 100 million dollars or less | More than one-quarter | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Harvard / Yale / Stanford, FY25 market value | 55.67 / 44.15 / 40.79 billion dollars | NACUBO 2025 NCSE Endowment Market Values |
| Princeton / MIT / UT System, FY25 | 36.42 / 27.37 / 27.17 billion dollars | NACUBO 2025 NCSE Endowment Market Values |
| Penn / Texas A&M System / Michigan, FY25 | 24.81 / 22.23 / 21.20 billion dollars | NACUBO 2025 NCSE Endowment Market Values |
| Year-over-year growth, MIT / Notre Dame / Harvard | +11.37% / +12.26% / +7.11% | NACUBO 2025 NCSE Endowment Market Values |
| All college endowments, end of FY2021 | 927 billion dollars (up 34% in one year) | NCES Fast Facts (IPEDS) |
Context note: the market values come from the NACUBO 2025 NCSE market value list; the top-5 share is our calculation from that list and the NACUBO total. The NCES figure is most recent available data from NCES Fast Facts (FY2021) and covers all IPEDS reporters, so it is not directly comparable to the NACUBO sample.
4. Spending and Distribution: 33.4 Billion Dollars, Mostly for Financial Aid
Spending rose faster than returns, which is the clearest sign of how much institutions now lean on their endowments. Withdrawals reached 33.4 billion dollars in FY25, up 11.0%, and endowments funded 15.2% of operating budgets, up from 14.0% (NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025). The average effective spending rate edged up to 4.9% from 4.8%, and the average policy rate to 4.7% from 4.6% (NACUBO Key Insights).
The money is not a slush fund. Student financial aid took 47.4% of spending, and at Yale about 75% of the endowment is legally restricted (Yale, Overview of Yale’s Endowment). At Harvard more than 80% is restricted and fewer than 5% of funds are fully unrestricted, spread over roughly 14,765 individual funds. How aid offsets borrowing is covered in our student loan debt statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total endowment spending, FY25 | 33.4 billion dollars (+11.0%) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Average effective spending rate | 4.9% (FY24: 4.8%) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Share of operating budgets funded | 15.2% (FY24: 14.0%) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Spending by purpose | Financial aid 47.4%, academic programs and research 17.7%, faculty positions 10.8%, facilities 7.6%, other 16.6% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Harvard distribution, FY25 | 2.5 billion dollars (37% of operating revenue) | Harvard FY25 Financial Overview |
| Yale distribution, FY25 | 2.1 billion dollars; more than one-third of operating revenue | Yale News, October 2025 |
| Princeton | About two-thirds of net operating revenues; almost 70% of undergraduate aid | Princeton Alumni Weekly, October 2025 |
| Stanford Merged Pool payout, FY27 | More than 2.2 billion dollars, about one-fifth of the operating budget | Stanford Report, September 2026 |
Context note: Yale distributed 15.3 billion dollars over the decade to June 2025, equal to 60% of the endowment’s value at the start of the period, and aims to spend 5.25% a year (Yale Office of the Provost). Harvard says its annual payout is generally 5% of market value, and Penn targets 5% of each fund.
5. Asset Allocation and Gifts: Private Markets In, Donations Down
The modern endowment is an equity portfolio with a private-markets tilt. 86% of FY25 assets were in equities, and 54.5% of the total sat in private or alternative strategies, versus 31.5% in public equities (NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025). Private equity (16.8%) and venture capital (12.2%) together are 29.0% of the dollar-weighted portfolio, more than double fixed income at 10.7%. The high-flyers of FY25 leaned harder still: MIT held 35% in private equity, Michigan 37% total private equity including 28% venture (Chief Investment Officer, November 2025).
The inflow side weakened. New gifts fell 9.2% to just under 14.0 billion dollars, from 15.4 billion, and the smallest endowments were hit hardest. That matters because small schools rely on gifts to grow, while large ones rely on returns.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Equities / fixed income / other, FY25 | 86% / 11% / 3% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Private and alternative strategies / public equities | 54.5% / 31.5% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Largest allocations | Private equity 16.8%, marketable alternatives 15.4%, US equities 13.7%, venture capital 12.2%, fixed income 10.7% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| New gifts to endowments, FY25 | Just under 14.0 billion dollars (-9.2%, from 15.4 billion) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Gift decline, endowments under 50 million dollars | -26.5% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Gift decline, largest endowments | -18.1% | NACUBO, Key Insights 2025 NCSE |
| Institutions with student-managed funds | 35.5% (653.4 million dollars in assets) | NACUBO, Key Insights 2025 NCSE |
Context note: the press release gives a 26.5% gift decline for endowments under 50 million dollars, while the key-insights deck shows 26.1%; we cite the press release. Yale’s CIO said its FY25 result trailed public indices because of underperformance in leveraged buyouts and real estate (Yale News, 2025), a reminder that private allocations cut both ways.
6. The Endowment Tax: From a Flat 1.4% to Up to 8%
The 2025 reconciliation law turned a minor tax into a material budget line for a handful of schools. The flat 1.4% excise tax on net investment income became three tiers: 1.4% for student-adjusted endowments of 500,000 to 749,999 dollars, 4% for 750,000 to 1,999,999 dollars and 8% for 2 million dollars or more (NACUBO, July 2025). At the same time, the minimum size rose from 500 to 3,000 tuition-paying students, which removes many small colleges entirely, and the tax applies to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025, meaning July 1, 2026 for June fiscal-year schools (Troutman Pepper Locke, September 2025).
The bill is narrow but deep. The American Enterprise Institute estimated that about 20 universities would face the tax, with a first-year bill of up to 368 million dollars for Harvard (AEI, July 2025). Yale says the 8% tax equates to a 12.5% impact on what it can spend from the endowment, and MIT’s provost put the cost at about 10% of its annual central budget (The Tech, July 2025). The House version had proposed a top rate of 21% (The Harvard Crimson, July 2025).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Tax tiers by student-adjusted endowment | 1.4% (500,000 to 749,999 dollars), 4% (750,000 to 1,999,999), 8% (2 million or more) | NACUBO, July 2025 |
| Minimum tuition-paying students | 3,000 (previously 500) | Troutman Pepper Locke, 2025 |
| Universities expected to face the tax | About 20 | American Enterprise Institute, July 2025 |
| Estimated first-year tax | Harvard up to 368 million, Yale about 276 to 280 million, Princeton 217 million, Stanford 202 million dollars | American Enterprise Institute, July 2025 |
| Average taxable income of eligible endowments | Roughly 6.6% of total value per year | American Enterprise Institute, July 2025 |
| Impact on Yale’s endowment spending | 12.5% | Yale Office of the Provost, 2025 |
| Expected cost to MIT | About 10% of annual central budget; about 2.6 million dollars of endowment per student | The Tech, July 2025 |
| Tax drag for top endowments | 30 to 50 basis points | TIFF Investment Management via Chief Investment Officer, 2025 |
Context note: Penn falls into the 4% tier from July 2026 (Daily Pennsylvanian, 2026), and Stanford says its rate rises to 8.0% this academic year. The law also does not exclude international students from the student count and gives no exemption to religious schools (NACUBO), which matters for schools with large international student populations.
7. The Wider Financial Squeeze: Why Payouts Keep Rising
Endowment growth is landing in a sector under pressure, which explains the rising payout rates. Moody’s projects the share of private colleges with negative EBIDA margins rising to 16%, from 12.2% in 2025 and 7.2% in 2024 (Higher Ed Dive, November 2025). Revenue is forecast to grow 3.5% against expenses of 4.4%, and all three major rating agencies issued negative or deteriorating outlooks for 2026 (Higher Ed Dive, January 2026).
Even the richest schools feel it. Harvard ran a 113 million dollar operating deficit on 6.7 billion dollars of revenue in FY25, recognized 629 million dollars in federal sponsored revenue (down 8%), and issued 1.2 billion dollars of long-term debt (Harvard FY25 Financial Overview). Moody’s expects modest declines in federal research funding in fiscals 2026 and 2027, concentrated in NIH (Inside Higher Ed, November 2025). Graduate students funded from those grants are covered in our graduate teaching assistant stipend statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sector revenue growth forecast, FY26 | 3.5% (2025: 3.8%) | Moody’s Ratings via Higher Ed Dive, 2025 |
| Sector expense growth forecast | 4.4% (prior year: 5.2%) | Moody’s Ratings via Higher Ed Dive, 2025 |
| Private colleges with negative EBIDA margins | 16% forecast (2025: 12.2%; 2024: 7.2%) | Moody’s Ratings via Higher Ed Dive, 2025 |
| Revenue growth by segment | Large privates 4%, publics 3.4%, mid-sized privates 2.3% | Moody’s Ratings via Inside Higher Ed, 2025 |
| Harvard operating result, FY25 | 113 million dollar deficit on 6.7 billion dollars of revenue | Harvard FY25 Financial Overview |
| Harvard federal sponsored revenue, FY25 | 629 million dollars (-8%) | Harvard FY25 Financial Overview |
| Harvard long-term debt issued, FY25 | 1.2 billion dollars (bonds 7.1 to 8.3 billion) | Harvard FY25 Financial Overview |
| Penn operating surplus, FY26 | 636 million dollars (185 million academic, 451 million health system) | Daily Pennsylvanian, September 2026 |
Context note: Yale’s provost says several units may need workforce reductions, with downsizing expected to be substantially complete by the end of calendar 2026, despite a 44.1 billion dollar endowment. Large endowments buffer shocks; they do not remove them.
Summary: University Endowment Statistics by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total US endowment assets, FY25 | 944.3 billion dollars (657 institutions) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Median endowment | 253.6 million dollars | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Average one-year return, FY25 | 10.9% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| 10-year average return | 7.7% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Best / worst size cohort return | 11.8% (over 5 billion) / 10.5% (101 to 250 million) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Total endowment spending | 33.4 billion dollars (+11.0%) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Effective spending rate | 4.9% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Share of operating budgets funded | 15.2% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Spending on financial aid | 47.4% | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Private and alternative strategies | 54.5% of assets | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| New gifts | Just under 14.0 billion dollars (-9.2%) | NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments 2025 |
| Largest endowment, FY25 | Harvard, 55.67 billion dollars (NCSE) / 56.9 billion (Harvard report) | NACUBO 2025 market values; Harvard FY25 Financial Overview |
| Top-5 share of total assets | About 21.6% | Our calculation from NACUBO 2025 data |
| Stanford Merged Pool return, FY26 | 31.7% | Stanford Report, September 2026 |
| Penn return, FY26 | 27.4% | Penn Office of Investments, 2026 |
| Preliminary median college endowment return, FY26 | 15.5% | Cambridge Associates via Stanford Report |
| Top endowment tax rate | 8% (from 1.4%) | NACUBO, July 2025 |
| Harvard estimated first-year tax | Up to 368 million dollars | American Enterprise Institute, July 2025 |
| Private colleges with negative EBIDA margins | 16% forecast | Moody’s Ratings via Higher Ed Dive, 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
Every figure above was read during research for this article in a primary report, a university financial release or a news article that names its underlying source. NACUBO’s public data tables page lists only downloads, so cohort data come from the NACUBO press release, the key-insights PDF and the market-value spreadsheet. Statistics that appeared only in search snippets or on aggregator blogs were excluded.
- NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments: FY25 press release (February 12, 2026), Summary and Key Insights from the 2025 NCSE (PDF), 2025 NCSE Endowment Market Values (XLSX)
- University reports: Harvard FY25 Financial Overview, Yale News, Yale reports investment return for fiscal 2025, Yale, Overview of Yale’s Endowment, Yale Office of the Provost, University budget FAQs, Stanford Report, Merged Pool return (September 24, 2026), MIT News, financials and endowment figures for 2026, Penn Office of Investments
- University press: Princeton Alumni Weekly, endowment earns 11% (October 2025), The Daily Pennsylvanian (September 2026), The Tech (July 2025), The Harvard Crimson (July 2025)
- Endowment tax: NACUBO, Major Reconciliation Bill Becomes Law (July 2025), Troutman Pepper Locke analysis (September 2025), American Enterprise Institute, How Much Will Universities Pay in Endowment Tax? (July 2025)
- Industry data: Chief Investment Officer on TIFF Investment Management FY25 research (November 2025), Chief Investment Officer, Ivy League FY25 returns (October 2025), Chief Investment Officer, Penn FY26 (September 2026)
- Credit outlooks: Higher Ed Dive on Moody’s 2026 outlook (November 2025), Higher Ed Dive on Moody’s, S&P and Fitch (January 2026), Inside Higher Ed (November 2025)
- Government data: NCES Fast Facts, Endowments (FY2021, most recent available on that page)
- Data watch: The NACUBO-Commonfund FY26 study is not yet out; FY26 figures here are early single-institution reports plus a preliminary Cambridge Associates median of 15.5% cited by Stanford, which could change. Harvard’s endowment appears as 55.67 billion dollars in the NACUBO list and 56.9 billion dollars in Harvard’s own financial overview, a difference in reporting basis; Stanford’s 61.5 billion dollar Merged Pool includes non-endowment funds and is not comparable to its 40.79 billion dollar NCSE value. NACUBO’s press release says 10.9% for the FY25 one-year return and a 26.5% gift decline for the smallest endowments, while our machine reading of the key-insights PDF returned different values for both; we cite the press release. The Harvard Crimson reported in July 2025 that the new tax applied immediately, but law-firm and NACUBO analyses place it at taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025, which we follow. AEI tax estimates are projections built on Form 990 and IPEDS data, not IRS collections; we could not find published IRS totals of excise tax paid. Moody’s figures were read through Higher Ed Dive and Inside Higher Ed because the Moody’s report is paywalled, and the two outlets report different small-college segments. Web search was rate-limited during research, so several primary pages (Forbes, Pensions and Investments, Tax Foundation) could not be read and their figures were not used.
Last updated: October 3, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when Harvard and Yale publish their FY26 financial reports and NACUBO and Commonfund release the FY26 Study of Endowments in early 2027.