Top Universities with the Largest Endowments, Amounting to $870 Billion in 2024

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In recent years, the largest university endowments amounted to over $870 billion in assets. This number has experienced a moderate leap of 4% in 2024 compared to the previous year, thanks to donations and investment returns. Using the data from Visual Capitalist, Investopedia, and US News, let’s take a closer look at some universities with the largest endowments in the United States. 

What is a university endowment? 

University endowments are donations of money or other financial assets that are used for a specific purpose. In the case of academic institutions, the resulting investment income has the legal structure of becoming a self-sustaining source for operations or programs within the institution body.

As noted by Investopedia, most university endowments are designed to preserve the principal amount intact while operating the investment income instead. Historically, these donations are spent for charitable efforts in accordance with the wishes of the donor.

Much like many financial frameworks, endowment funds are subject to certain guidelines that state the amount of investment income to spend. For instance, Harvard University has 5% of their billions of dollars in endowments to spend each year.

Types of Endowments 

According to Investopedia, there are four types of endowments, with suggestions as follows: 

1. Term endowments that have a certain period of time in terms of principal donations, which can be expended. 

2. Unrestricted endowments where institutions are eligible to spend, save, invest, and distribute the donated assets at their own will. 

3. A quasi-endowment is made by an individual or institution whose intent is rather specific. The principal of these endowments is typically sustained while institutions gain benefit by spending the earnings. 

4. Restricted endowments that have their principal held are usually designed to donate the investments’ earnings per donor’s specification.

Universities with the Largest Endowments 

Based on the data published by Visual Capitalist, Harvard University has the largest university endowment at $52 billion, while the University of Texas System follows suit at $47.5 billion. Other institutions with remarkable amounts of endowments as of fiscal year 2024 also include 

1. Harvard University—$52 Billion

2. University of Texas—$48 Billion

3. Yale University—$41 Billion

4. Stanford University—$38 Billion

5. Princeton University—$34 Billion 

6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology—$25 Billion 

7. University of Pennsylvania—$22 Billion 

8. The Texas A&M University—$20 Billion

9. University of Michigan—$19 Billion 

10. University of California—$19 Billion 

11. University of Notre Dame—$17 Billion 

12. Columbia University—$15 Billion 

13. Northwestern University—$14 Billion 

14. Johns Hopkins University—$13 Billion 

15. Washington University—$12 Billion 

16. Duke University—$12 Billion

17. Cornell University—$11 Billion 

18. Vanderbilt University—$10 Billion 

19. University of Virginia—$10 Billion 

20. The University of Chicago—$10 Billion

21. Dartmouth College—$8 Billion 

22. University of Southern California 

23. Rice University—$8 Billion 

24. The Ohio State University—$8 Billion 

With billions of dollars in assets, these largest university endowments enable institutions to support scholarships, research initiatives, faculty development, and campus improvements, all while preserving long-term financial health.

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