10 Universities With the Largest Endowments

The endowment at each of these schools topped $8 billion.

At the end of fiscal year 2014, Harvard University's endowment was about $36 billion – more than any other ranked school that reported data to U.S. News.

By Delece Smith-BarrowOct. 6, 2015, at 10:00 a.m.+ More

The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search.
When a school has a large endowment – a fund of donated money that the institution invests – it can generate more cash for everyone on campus.

Professors may get higher salaries, and students – in some cases – may get lower tuition and fees. Endowment spending can also go toward classroom technology, research, maintaining campus buildings and other perks that help a college or university give students a quality education.

As the country bounces back from a recession, school endowments are growing. Among 832 institutions, endowments returned an average of 15.5 percent for the 2014 fiscal year after subtracting fees, compared with 11.7 percent for the 2013 fiscal year, according to the NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments.

Some universities are in a league of their own when it comes to the size of their endowments. Harvard University's endowment was $36,429,256,000 at the end of fiscal year 2014. It had the largest endowment among 1,140 ranked institutions that submitted data to U.S. News in an annual survey.

The amount is almost $4 billion more than Harvard's endowment at the end of fiscal year 2013, when it also topped the list of 10 schools with the largest endowments.

Princeton University increased its endowment by roughly $2 billion, but it fell to No. 4 on the list. It had the third-largest endowment at the end of fiscal year 2013.

Among the 10 schools with the largest endowments for 2014, the average endowment was $16.2 billion.

[Learn which schools offer the best value when it comes to paying for a college education.]

The University of Nebraska—Kearney had the smallest endowment among all schools: $65,712. UNK is a Regional University in the Midwest; the 10 schools with the largest endowments are National Universities.

National Universities offer a range of degree programs at the undergraduate, master's and doctoral levels and are committed to doing groundbreaking research.

Below is a list of the 10 universities with the most money in their endowments at the end of fiscal year 2014. Endowments were examined by campus, not across public university systems. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.

School name (state)	End of fiscal year 2014 endowment	U.S. News rank and category
Harvard University (MA)	$36,429,256,000	2, National Universities
Yale University (CT)	$23,858,561,000	3, National Universities
Stanford University (CA)	$21,466,006,000	4 (tie), National Universities
Princeton University (NJ)	$20,576,361,000	1, National Universities
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	$12,425,131,000	7, National Universities
Texas A&M University—College Station	$10,521,034,492	70 (tie), National Universities
University of Michigan—Ann Arbor	$9,603,919,000	29, National Universities
University of Pennsylvania	$9,582,335,000	9, National Universities
Columbia University (NY)	$9,223,047,000	4 (tie), National Universities
University of Notre Dame (IN)	$8,189,096,000	18 (tie), National Universities

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find endowment data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed nearly 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2015 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schoolsor Best Online Programs. The endowment data above are correct as of Oct. 6, 2015.

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College and University Endowment Funds 2016 Edition (End of Year 2014 and 2015 Data)

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  FAST FACTS

Endowments

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

Response:

At the end of fiscal year 2012, the market value of the endowment funds of colleges and universities was $425 billion, reflecting an increase of 1 percent compared to the beginning of the fiscal year, when the total was $421 billion. At the end of fiscal year 2012, the 120 colleges with the largest endowments accounted for $316 billion, or about three-fourths of the national total. The five colleges with the largest endowments in 2012 were Harvard University ($31 billion), Yale University ($19 billion), Princeton University ($17 billion), the University of Texas System ($17 billion), and Stanford University ($17 billion).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2015). Digest of Education Statistics, 2013 (NCES 2015-011), Chapter 3.

Endowment funds of the 20 colleges and universities with the largest endowments, by rank order: Fiscal year (FY) 2012
Institution	Rank order1	Market value of endowment, as of June 30 (in thousands of dollars)
		Beginning of FY	End of FY
United States, all institutions		$420,785,545	$424,587,666
Harvard University (MA)	1	32,012,729	30,745,534
Yale University (CT)	2	19,174,387	19,264,289
Princeton University (NJ)	3	17,162,603	17,404,002
University of Texas System Office	4	14,635,240	17,070,515
Stanford University (CA)	5	16,502,606	17,035,804
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	6	9,712,628	10,149,564
Columbia University in the City of New York	7	7,789,578	7,654,152
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	8	7,725,307	7,586,547
Texas A & M University, College Station	9	6,362,369	7,032,204
University of Pennsylvania	10	6,582,030	6,754,658
University of Notre Dame (IN)	11	6,383,344	6,444,599
University of California System Admin. Central Office	12	5,441,225	6,342,217
Emory University (GA)	13	5,443,397	5,774,500
University of Chicago (IL)	14	5,691,013	5,701,419
Northwestern University (IL)	15	5,474,935	5,574,319
Duke University (NC)	16	5,747,377	5,555,196
Washington University in Saint Louis (MO)	17	5,348,871	5,303,196
University of Virginia, Main Campus	18	4,707,593	4,734,895
Rice University (TX)	19	4,498,951	4,448,069
Cornell University (NY)	20	3,960,057	3,850,426

¹ Institutions ranked by size of endowment in 2012.

NOTE: Degree-granting institutions grant associate's or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2015). Digest of Education Statistics, 2013 (NCES 2015-011), Table 333.90..

Other Resources:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2015, The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS): IPEDS is a system of surveys designed to collect data from all primary providers of postsecondary education.