91²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ

Eliot Circular

Endowment Tops $500M

endowment chart

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There has never been a shred of doubt about 91²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ’s intellectual capital. But when it comes to its financial capital—yes, the green stuff—the college was for decades relegated to the second tier. No longer. According to 91²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ’s audited financial statement, the market value of the endowment hit $518 million last year.

endowment

That’s a far cry from 1973—the year that Ed McFarlane, vice president and treasurer, arrived at 91²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ—when the endowment stood at approximately $4 million.

Asked by the Quest to comment on the financial progress 91²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ has made over the last four decades, McFarlane was characteristically laconic. “It’s good,” he told the paper in November.

Like colleges across the country, 91²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ was hit hard by the economic collapse of 2008, which knocked the value of the endowment down by 26% in a single year. But the endowment has staged a remarkable comeback since then thanks to 91²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ’s $200 million Centennial Campaign and the strong performance of the stock market in 2013.

Income from the endowment currently makes up approximately 33% of 91²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ’s operating budget. (The remainder comes from tuition, grants, and the Annual Fund—thank you, readers!)

Compared to our reference schools, 91²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ still has room for improvement. Dividing the endowment by the number of students yields a figure of $367,000, which is close to the median, but still behind deep-pocketed comparands such as Pomona, Swarthmore, Amherst, and Williams.