Endowments Improving, Though not Fully Recovered

November 7, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Higher education endowments earned returns averaging 19.8% in fiscal year 2011.   

The preliminary data gathered from 284 U.S. colleges and universities indicate these institutions’ endowments returned an average of 19.8% for the 2011 fiscal year.

The 2011 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments was sponsored by the

Commonfund Institute and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). The study found the highest return earned for the FY2001 was 31.8% and the lowest was 3.7%.

The FY2011 effective spending rate for the group averaged 4.3%, but for the two largest endowment cohorts with assets over $500 million the effective spending rates were 5.1% and 5%, respectively.

"What stands out in these preliminary figures is the fact that, despite the positive returns of this year and last, endowments still have not completely recovered from the damage inflicted by the market declines that accompanied the 2008-09 credit crisis,"  NACUBO President and Chief Executive Officer John D. Walda and Commonfund Institute Executive Director John S. Griswold said in a joint statement.