Colleges and universities are beginning to report the performance of their endowments for fiscal year 2025, and the early news finds several nationally prominent institutions, including all eight Ivy League schools, posting double-digit investment returns.
Here’s a summary of some initial FY 2025 results for universities with large endowments.
The Ivy League and Others
Harvard University’s endowment, the largest of any university in the world, saw an 11.9% return, bringing the endowment’s value to a total of $56.9 billion, according to its fiscal year 2025 financial report. The 11.9% gain topped last year’s increase of 9.6% and exceeded the university’s long-term goal of 8%. Over the past eight years, Harvard’s portfolio has averaged an annualized return of 9.6%.
Yale University’s endowment earned $4.5 billion in gains for the 2025 fiscal year. The increase represented an 11.1% return, almost double last year’s 5.7% rate. After $2.1 billion was used to fund Yale’s operating budget, the endowment’s total value stood at $44.1 billion, the second-largest university endowment in the United States.
Stanford University reported a 14.3% investment return in its Merged Pool for the year, bringing its five-year annualized return to 11.7%. In fiscal year 2025, Stanford’s endowment distributed $1.9 billion for operations, financial aid, research and other expenses. Stanford’s endowment, which includes endowed funds invested in the Merged Pool along with other real estate assets, stood at $40.8 billion on Aug. 31, 2025.
Princeton University saw an 11% return on investments for the 2025 fiscal year. Its endowment totaled $36.4 billion, the third largest in the Ivy League.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology realized a 14.8% return for the fiscal year, bringing its endowment total to $27.4 billion. That gain substantially bested the prior year’s return of 8.9%.
Cornell University also saw strong investment performance, with a 12.3% return on its endowment for the fiscal year. The endowment’s total value rose from $10.7 billion in fiscal year 2024 to $11.8 billion for FY 2025.
Rounding out the Ivy League, Columbia University saw a 12.4% gain in its endowment’s earnings, bring the total value of the fund to $15.9 billion. Dartmouth College posted a 10.8%, boosting its endowment total to $9 billion, up from $8.3 billion at the end of the prior fiscal year. At Brown University, the endowment generated an 11.9% investment return, increasing the total market value from $7.2 billion to $8 billion. The University of Pennsylvania’s endowment returned 12.2% for FY 2025, increasing the assets managed by the endowment to $24.8 billion, a year-over-year gain of $2.5 billion.
Small Colleges and Public Universities Also Doing Well
Investments at small colleges and major public universities also performed well, with several experiencing double-digit returns. Bowdoin College’s endowment saw a 15.3% investment return, increasing its total value by $333 million to reach $2.9 billion. Lehigh University’s $2.4 billion endowment earned a net return of 10.4%, about one percentage point better than last year. The University of Michigan reported a 15.5% return rate, bringing its endowment’s market value to $21.2 billion. The Ohio State University, with an endowment now worth about $8.6 billion, saw an 11.8% increase in earnings. The University of Virginia’s long-term investment pool posted a net return of 12.4%. Just over half of UVA’s $15.5 billion pool consists of endowment funds, equal to about $7.9 billion.
A Turnaround Since 2022
The market value of an endowment reflects the net impact of: 1) annual withdrawals to fund institutional operations like scholarships, endowed faculty positions, program enhancements, research projects and capital expenses; 2) payment of management and investment fees; 3) additions from donor gifts and other contributions; and 4) investment gains or losses.
If results similar to these early indicators are realized at other institutions, college and university endowments overall could equal last fiscal year’s strong performance, when they saw an average 11.2% net return, according to the 2024 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. That would mark a third straight year of substantial investment turnarounds from fiscal year 2022, when the average return was a dismal -8.0%. And it also would come as welcome news to several elite universities who face serious financial challenges as a result of a funding polices implemented by the Trump administration, including increased federal excise taxes on their endowment earnings.
The next annual study of college and university endowments, prepared by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund Institute, is expected to be released in February.