Over the 2024 fiscal year (FY24), which ended June 30, Princeton’s endowment generated a 3.9 percent investment gain, according to an announcement released by the University on Oct. 24. This year’s investment gain, however, has not led to an increase in the size of the endowment overall, with the 2024 value matching that of 2023 — both $34.1 billion.
This is notably the first endowment gain reported by the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO), the University department that manages the endowment, in two years, with 1.5 and 1.7 percent losses in FY 2022 and 2023, respectively.
For the first time in nearly 30 years, the endowment is not being managed by Andrew Golden, the former long-time president of PRINCO who retired in June. During his tenure the endowment grew almost tenfold, with only three negative investment gains in that time. The endowment’s success was often credited to Golden’s aggressive investment strategy, which targeted an annual return of 10 percent.
Vincent Tuohey, PRINCO’s new president, declined to comment on the endowment announcement.
Before the end of his tenure, Golden warned that Princeton’s endowment could suffer after facing what he described the “worst ever environment” for liquidity, in an April interview with the Financial Times. Despite Golden’s signaling, the 2024 returns mark the first time the endowment has had a positive investment gain since 2021, though much smaller than that year’s historic 46.9 percent investment gain.
PRINCO and the University did not respond to repeated requests for comment on how the investment returns improved since Golden’s interview with the Financial Times.
Princeton maintains one of the largest endowments in the country, topped by Harvard University, whose endowment grew by 9.6 percent to $53.2 billion from July 2023 to June 2024, and Stanford University, with an endowment value of $37.6 billion as of Aug. 31. Yale University boasted an endowment value of $40.7 billion as of June 30, 2023. Details of Yale’s endowment for the financial year ended this June have not yet been announced.
Several peer institutions, including Harvard and Stanford, typically detail the amount of money disbursed into the operating expenses of the university. According to Princeton’s announcement, distributions from the endowment fund 70 percent of the undergraduate financial aid budget, as well as University research, service and social impact programs, campus construction, and outreach programs supporting first-generation low-income, veteran, and transfer students.
The announcement states that the distributions from the endowment towards the University’s operations were $1.7 billion for FY24. Harvard’s outgoings were $2.4 billion, while Yale’s for FY23 were $1.8 billion.
The Board of Trustees set an operating budget for the academic year 2023-24 of $2.92 billion, an increase from $2.66 billion the previous year.
The University reports that the endowment helps fund research, “including in the areas of quantum computing, artificial intelligence, climate science, and insights on diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.” On Oct. 3, the University announced that it would resume accepting research funding from fossil fuel companies that fail to meet its dissociation criteria, sparking backlash from various groups across campus.
The admission and financial aid website details that the average annual undergraduate aid package for Princeton students is $73,000 for those who receive aid, while the financial aid program covers 100 percent of tuition, housing, food, books, and personal expenses “for most families” making up to $100,000 annually.
The undergraduate financial aid budget was increased by 26.4 percent for the academic year 2023–24 to a total of $268 million, which accounted for more than nine percent of the University’s total operating budget of $2.92 billion.
Victoria Davies is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince’ who covers University operations.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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