University Endowments Between $10 Billion and $15 Billion

	Penn	Texas A&M	Michigan	California	Notre Dame	Northwestern	Columbia
2010	5668937	5738289	6564144	5441225	5234841	5945277	6516512
2011	6582029	6999517	7834752	6342217	6259598	7182745	7789578
2012	6754658	7638555	7691052	5962906	6329866	7118595	7654152
2013	7741396	8732010	8382311	6377379	6856301	7883323	8197880
2014	9582335	11103880	9731460	7384110	8039756	9778112	9223047
2015	10133569	10477102	9952113	7997099	8566952	10193037	9639065
2016	10715364	10539526	9743461	8341073	8374083	9648497	9041027
2017	12213202	11556260	10936014	9787627	9352376	10436692	9996596
2018	13777441	13524947	11901760	11008035	10727653	11087659	10869245
2019	14649762	13514528	12448817	11797543	11268365	11091516	10950738
2020	14877363	13594482	12476874	12141762	11962820	10926510	11257021

The endowments shown constitute the 7th through 13th largest university endowments in the United States as of 2020. (The six largest endowments, those of MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Texas, and Harvard, were valued between $18.5 billion and $40.6 billion in 2020.)

Figures are in thousands of dollars and represent endowment market value on June 30 of the year in question.

Source: NACUBO-TIAA Study of Endowments

Important note: The change in endowment market value from year to year does not reflect the return on investment alone. Indeed, Columbia's annualized 10-year return from 2010 to 2020 was 9.1%, while Penn's was only slightly larger at 9.3%. Yet, as the table shows, Columbia's endowment growth lagged by $4.47 billion behind Penn's during that period. Overall endowment growth is a combination of four quantities: (1) return on investment, (2) additions from gifts and contributions, (3) withdrawals for expenditures, and (4) management costs and fees. The latter three factors must explain the large discrepancy between Columbia's and Penn's endowment growth.

Chart compiled by Michael Thaddeus, Professor of Mathematics, mt324@columbia.edu