Report: Brown has largest endowment, increase in R.I. in fiscal 2015

PROVIDENCE – Brown University led local colleges and universities with the largest endowment and largest percentage increase for the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The Chronicle cited an endowment study from the National Association of College and University Business Officers, also known as Nacubo, and the Commonfund Institute.
Ivy League Brown closed fiscal 2015 with a $3.1 billion endowment, a 2.45 percent increase over fiscal 2014.
Rhode Island School of Design and Rhode Island College were the only other two institutions of higher learning in the Ocean State to post increases, at 1 percent and 0.28 percent, respectively, to $325 million and $21.3 million.
Roger Williams University in Bristol reported the greatest decline at 4.1 percent, to $86.3 million, followed by Johnson & Wales University with a 3.4 percent drop, to $263.8 million, and Salve Regina University, a Catholic university in Newport, with a 2.8 percent declrease, to $57 million.
Bryant University in Smithfield had a 1.6 percent drop, to $170.1 million, while the University of Rhode Island in South Kingstown saw its endowment fall 0.44 percent, to $131.7 million.
Ivy League Harvard University in Boston had the largest endowment on the list at $36.5 billion, a 1.6 percent increase compared with the prior year.
In Bristol County, Stonehill College in North Easton reported an endowment of $188.6 million, a 1.2 percent decline, while Wheaton College in Norton reported an endowment of $194.7 million, a 0.61 percent increase. The University of Massachusetts system reported a 1.7 percent increase in its endowment, to $770.2 million.
The 2015 Nacubo-Commonfund Study of Endowments included data gathered from 812 U.S. colleges and universities, showing that participating institutions’ endowments returned an average of 2.4 percent in fiscal 2015, compared with 15.5 percent in the prior-year period. The study said that was the lowest return in three years, since a 0.3 percent drop was reported for fiscal 2012.
Universities saw long-term 10-year average annual returns fall to 6.3 percent, a decrease from last year’s 7.1 percent. The long-term return figure is below the 7.5 percent return figure most endowments report they need to maintain purchasing power after spending, inflation and investment management costs, Nacubo said.
Nacubo President and CEO John D. Walda said in a statement that fiscal 2015’s lower average 10-year return “is a great concern.”

“On average, institutions derive nearly 10 percent of their operating funds from their endowments. Lower returns may make it even tougher for colleges and universities to adequately fund financial aid, research and other programs that are very reliant on endowment earnings and are vital to institutions’ missions,” Walda said.

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