After a period of blockbuster gains, the world’s largest university endowments experienced swift declines in fiscal year 2022 (July 1, 2021—June 30, 2022). Driven by global market downturns, record inflation, and volatility across asset classes, top academic endowments reported their lowest median returns since 2009, according to data from Cambridge Associates.
Sudden shifts in investor sentiment marked a departure from the record cycles of outperformance seen in FY20 and FY21, when Ivy league colleges recorded their biggest returns in years. The National Association of Colleges and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) found that investment performance benefited from high private equity profits and other risk assets, resulting in a cumulative 30.6% return for FY21. For FY22, however, the 678 universities participating in the NACUBO-TIAA survey generated an average of -0.8% overall returns.
How do university endowments invest?
University endowments that manage $1 billion or more typically invest less in fixed-income and domestic public equities. By contrast, smaller endowments have greater allocations in these asset classes. With more exposure to the private markets, the largest endowments are better equipped to navigate market downturns.
When stocks and public equity returns declined last year, the largest university endowments were buoyed by these alternative investment allocations. In FY22, substantial funds continued to finance in private equity, venture capital, and real assets, with hedge funds making up roughly 17% of the respondents’ portfolios on average, according to the NACUBO-TIAA survey.
Like most institutional investors and private equity firms impacted by market volatility, academic endowments will likely adjust asset allocation to reflect tightening financial policies and market downturns that safeguard budgets and drive future portfolio strategy.
Top 10 wealthiest university endowments by size for FY21
Before we dive into top endowments by AUM for FY22, here’s a quick recap of how leading university endowments performed in the previous fiscal year.
Source: PitchBook data Geography: Global *As of March, 15 2023
| University | Endowment | AUM ($M) |
| Harvard University | Harvard Management Company | $53,165.75 |
| University of Texas | University of Texas Endowment | $43,633.71 |
| Yale University Endowment | Yale University Endowment | $42,282.90 |
| Stanford | Stanford Management Company | $41,900.00 |
| Princeton University | Princeton University Investment Company | $37,200.00 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | $27,527.20 |
| University of Notre Dame | University of Notre Dame Endowment | $22,464.78 |
| University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania Endowment | $20,523.55 |
| University of Michigan | University of Michigan Endowment | $17,023.00 |
| University of Virginia | University of Virginia Investment Management Company | $14,500.00 |
| University | Endowment | AUM ($M) |
| Harvard University | Harvard Management Company | $53,165.75 |
| University of Texas | University of Texas Endowment | $43,633.71 |
| Yale University Endowment | Yale University Endowment | $42,282.90 |
| Stanford | Stanford Management Company | $41,900.00 |
| Princeton University | Princeton University Investment Company | $37,200.00 |
| Mass. Institute of Technology | Mass. Institute of Technology | $27,527.20 |
| University of Notre Dame | University of Notre Dame Endowment | $22,464.78 |
| University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania Endowment | $20,523.55 |
| University of Michigan | University of Michigan Endowment | $17,023.00 |
| University of Virginia | University of Virginia Investment Management Company | $14,500.00 |
What is the largest academic endowment in the world?
When Harvard University—decades-long proprietor of the largest academic endowment—began to divest from fossil fuels in FY22, the University of Texas, a public institution founded two centuries later, snatched the top spot as the world’s largest university endowment.
Ongoing pushback from its student body spurred Harvard University to announce it would no longer invest in companies that explore or are related to the development of fossil fuels. The Harvard endowment’s assests under management, or AUM, valued at $53.2 billion in FY21 according to PitchBook tracked data, dropped to $50.9 billion in the next fiscal year.
As oil prices spiked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the University of Texas Investment Management Company which pulls endowment funds from multiple universities and owns more than 2 million acres of oil-rich land in West Texas, reaped millions in royalties from natural gas and oil.
In an era when funds and investors are pressured to divest from inflationary hedging natural resources, Texas could face tension in the future from stakeholders concerned with environmental, governance, and sustainability, or ESG, and Impact investing.
Criticism of academic endowments
As tuition rates continue to rise, university endowments and their fund managers have encountered criticism related to fees paid to PE firms, sustainable investing, DEI practices, and general spending from students and faculty. Students are pushing back against how endowment funds are invested and holding their universities accountable.
Some endowments have grown so diversified that congress recently introduced a bill to pressure universities that invest in entities with problematic financial ties to divest.
On the other hand, NACUBO’s latest study reported that more than 80% of respondents added ESG frameworks into their investment portfolio. For the first time, the study also surveyed respondents about donations and gifts reserved for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, with 65% of institutions confirming they received such contributions.
Top 10 university endowments by AUM as of FY22
Our list below highlights the top 10 universities in FY22 by endowment assets under management (AUM) based on data tracked from the PitchBook Platform as of March 15, 2023
University of Texas
Year Founded: 1996
AUM: $55.1B as of October 31, 2022
The University of Texas Management Company has a portfolio of 667 global commitments with investments in private equity, real estate, hedge funds, infrastructure, real assets, natural resources, equities, fixed income, cash, private debt, and other alternative asset classes. As of October, the private equity portfolio was valued at $13.5 billion, representing 26.2% of the total portfolio. Investments in private equity include buyouts, co-investment, mezzanine, private equity growth expansion, distressed debt, secondaries, and venture capital fund strategies diversified geographically across the globe.
Harvard University
Year Founded: 1974
AUM: $50.9B as of October 31, 2022
Harvard University manages an endowment fund based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, consisting of approximately 13,000 separate funds established for various purposes. Harvard University Endowment’s investment portfolio investments in real estate, real assets, natural resources, hedge funds, publicly traded equities, fixed-income securities, private equity, and cash. As of June 30, 2022, the private equity portfolio was valued at $18.8 billion, representing 37% of the total portfolio. It increased from June 30, 2021, when private equity investments were $17.9 billion. Investments in private equity include venture capital strategies diversified across the United States.
Yale University
Year Founded: 1936
AUM: $42.3B as of June 30, 2022
Yale University Endowment‘s investment portfolio currently has 69 active commitments that span private equity, real estate, hedge funds, natural resources, equities, real assets, publicly-traded equities, and other alternative asset classes. As of June 30, 2021, their private equity portfolio was valued at $16.2 billion, representing 38.4% of the total portfolio. Investments in private equity include buyouts, private equity growth expansion, and venture capital and strategies diversified in geographical locations across America, Europe, the US, Oceania, and Asia.
Stanford University
Year Founded: 1991
AUM: $40.1B as of August 31, 2022
Stanford Management Company (SMC) manages an endowment fund for Stanford University, headquartered in Stanford, California. SMC is a division of the university, governed by a board of directors appointed by the Leland Stanford Junior University board of trustees. The firm plays an important role in building and maintaining a solid financial foundation to support the university’s teaching, learning, and research mission. Most of the university’s endowment assets are invested through the company’s merged pool.
Princeton University
Year Founded: 1987
AUM: $35.5B as of June 30, 2022
As of June 30, 2022, Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO) private equity portfolio was valued at over $15.62 billion, representing 44% of the total portfolio. Investments in private equity include buyouts, private equity growth expansion, distressed debt, and venture capital fund strategies diversified in geographical locations across the globe except for Canada and Africa. PRINCO advises on the management of the assets invested through Princeton University’s gift planning program and provides ongoing performance reviews of external managers.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Year Founded: 1977
AUM: $24.7B as of October 31, 2022
MIT Investment Management Company, founded in 1977, is an investment firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with $38.6M of dry powder and 15 total investments. The endowment provides stewardship of the MIT Corporation’s financial resources. The firm operates as a division of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, created to manage and oversee the investment of the university’s endowment, retirement, and operating funds.
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University of Notre Dame
Year Founded: 1920
AUM: $20.8B as of June 30, 2022
University of Notre Dame Endowment has investments in cash, domestic and international equity, real estate, hedge funds, and private equity. International investments are greater than the US equities target with regional portfolio mandates in Western Europe, Brazil, China, India, ASEAN countries, and Africa. The endowment utilizes investment returns to support substantial annual funding for scholarship and fellowship recipients, endowed faculty positions, academic programs, library collections, and the general operating budget.
University of Pennsylvania
Year Founded: 1920
AUM: $20.7B as of June 30, 2022
The University of Pennsylvania Endowment‘s The University of Pennsylvania Endowment’s mission is to provide stable and perpetual support for the values and programs of the university. The endowment supports a wide range of purposes across the institution, with the significant majority of funds dedicated to instructional use and student financial aid.
As of June 30, 2022, its PE portfolio represented 35.2% of the total portfolio, with investments in private equity, including growth expansion, buyouts focused on the US and European markets, and venture capital funds focused on the US and China. The endowment prefers to make partnership investments of $700 million and $800 million and is open to any first-time fund investment.
University of Michigan
Year Founded:
AUM: $17.3B as of June 30, 2022
The University of Michigan Endowment manages a fund of 935 commitments, headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The university’s endowment funds consist of both permanent endowments and funds functioning as an endowment. Permanent endowments are those funds received from donors with the stipulation that the principal remains inviolate and be invested in perpetuity to produce income expended for the purposes specified by the donors. The university uses the endowment funds to support operations to strike a balance between generating a predictable stream of annual support for current needs and preserving the purchasing power of the endowment funds for future periods. The central portion of the endowment is maintained in the university endowment fund, a unitized pool.
University of Virginia
Year Founded: 2004
AUM: $13.6B as of June 30, 2022
University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO) provides investment management services to the rector and visitors of the University of Virginia and the its related foundations. UVIMCO invests the endowment and other long-term funds held by the university and the associated foundations in a long-term pool. UVIMCO also manages a short-term pool for the university with near-term liquidity.
The endowments hold investments in public equity, fixed income, long/short equity, real estate, private equity, and cash. As of June 30, 2021, PE investments represented 26.4% of the total portfolio. Investments in private equity include buyouts, co-investment, private equity growth expansion, and venture capital fund strategies.
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