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Institutional Finances > Endowments > Figure11a

As of June 2008, 18 private colleges and universities had endowment assets exceeding $500,000 per student. Another 115 institutions, including six public universities, had endowment assets between $100,000 and $500,000 per student. The vast majority of the more than 1,600 private not-for-profit four-year institutions and more than 650 public four-year institutions had much lower endowments or no endowments at all.

Endowment assets include funds that by law must be preserved, with only the income available for spending, because of restrictions placed by donors. Institutional policy dictates the preservation of other endowment funds. Most colleges and universities spend 4% to 6% of the value of their endowments each year as additions to the operating budget.

Note: The scale on the private four-year graph is 10 times that on the public four-year graph. The value of endowment assets was as of the end of FY08. Endowment assets are based on data for 101 private doctorate-granting, 319 private master’s, 468 private baccalaureate, 163 public doctorate-granting, 247 public master’s and 96 public baccalaureate degree institutions. Average endowment per FTE for each decile of institutions is calculated by ordering the institutions in the sector by assets per FTE and dividing the students in the sector into deciles. Total assets in the institutions enrolling 10% of students in the sector are divided by the number of students in those institutions.
Sources: National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) Endowment Study; NCES, IPEDS; calculations by the authors. Data are from NACUBO where available.

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Endowment Assets

The wealthiest 10% of private doctorate-granting universities held about 54% of the endowment
wealth in this sector, averaging $1.3 million per student in June 2008. The median endowment per student in this sector was about $72,300.
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The wealthiest 10% of private baccalaureate colleges held about 55% of the endowment wealth in
this sector, averaging $445,000 per student. The median endowment per student in this sector was about $27,400.
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The wealthiest 10% of public doctorate-granting universities held about 40% of the endowment
wealth in this sector, averaging $90,700 per student in June 2008. The median endowment per student in this sector was about $14,400 per student.
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Endowment values fluctuate with financial markets. By the end of FY03, average endowment value
per FTE student for private institutions had declined to about 80% of its FY2000 value. Average endowment per FTE student rose to about 113% of its FY2000 level by FY07, but has declined significantly since that time.
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Also Important

According to the 2008 Endowment Study from the National Association of College and University Business Officers, institutions spent
an average of 4.6% of their endowments in FY08. This amount contributed about $3,330 per student per year to the median private doctorate-granting university, about $1,260 per student per year to the median private baccalaureate college, and about $510 per student per year to the average private master’s university.
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