WASHINGTON, DC (February 15, 2024)—Data from the 2023 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments® (NCSE) show that the endowments of 688 participating U.S. colleges and universities and affiliated foundations returned 7.7 percent, net of fees, for FY23 (July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023), a sharp reversal of the -8.0 percent return reported for FY22.
In total, participating institutions withdrew $28.4 billion from their endowments during the fiscal year, an 8.4 percent year-over-year increase. According to the report, the largest share of institutions’ spending policy distributions in FY23, 47.7 percent, went to student financial aid; other spending was distributed across academic programs and included research (17.5 percent), endowed faculty positions (11.1 percent), operation and maintenance of campus facilities (7.4 percent), and all other purposes (16.4 percent).
“From the point of view of college and university chief business officers, the results of this year’s endowment study are ideal—a sound rate of return demonstrating good fiscal stewardship leading to additional resources available to the students, faculty, and programs that are our core mission,” said NACUBO President and CEO Kara D. Freeman. “Endowments are complex and managing them in the current financial environment can be difficult, but we see from this fiscal year 2023 data that our students, donors and institutions are being well served.”
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