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Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Penn endowment showed 'largest decrease': report

UPDATED:  During the 2008 fiscal year, of the 20 universities with the largest endowments, "the largest percentage decrease was at the University of Pennsylvania, which lost 6.1 percent of its endowment’s value, or $401.9 million," Inside Higher Education reported in this article. SOURCE: a study by the TIAA-CREF college employees' retirement fund and the National Association of College and University Business Officers -- table here.

A separate study by NACUBO and the Commonfund Institute "found that college endowment returns dropped by 22.5 percent" in the last half of 2008, after falling 2.7 percent in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008. Commonfund and NACUBO collected data on each school, but won't make it public, said Commonfund spokesman William F. Jarvis. 

There's likely worse news ahead, since most of the drop in market value took place after June 30, NACUBO and Comonfund warned in this statement: "While fiscal 2008 was difficult for educational endowments, the negative 2.7 percent return was manageable. It was in the period after the close of the fiscal year on June 30 that very serious erosion of endowment values took place," said John S. Griswold, executive director of Commonfund Institute.

Posted by Joseph N. DiStefano @ 8:44 AM  Permalink | 9 comments
Comments   
Posted 09:21 AM, 01/27/2009
Bud Fox
C'mon Wharton, get it in gear!
Posted 09:41 AM, 01/27/2009
fafafooey
I guess they have some shrinkage on their endowment... must be cold out.
Posted 10:24 AM, 01/27/2009
cdm48
Lets not forget their majestic gains from prior years before we feel for them.
Posted 10:34 AM, 01/27/2009
lkthompson
boo hoo
Posted 10:46 AM, 01/27/2009
EddieV
Wow, UPENN is in Philly? Wouldn't know it by the number of locals they admit.
Posted 10:51 AM, 01/27/2009
mazza313
you can feel a little bad for their employees. we are dealing with a salary-freeze and a no-hire policy (while amy gutman gave herself a several hundred thousand dollar raise last year). good times.
Posted 10:54 AM, 01/27/2009
pikectygirl
If 401.9Million is 6% of the endowment, then it was valued at 6.698BILLION before the fall, and is currently valued at 6.296BILLION. So I don't feel too sorry for them.
Posted 11:43 AM, 01/27/2009
CleanupPhilly
This is why Princeton has fully paid from their endowment tuition, and UPenn is scrambling to make ends meet. They haven't even paid their property taxes on some of their properties. Come on, UPenn. Vet those investments! They lost all that money on the railroads when a board member was on the railroads (before the Great Depression). Seems like money managers from Madoff's investors to even the best minds at UPenn still believe in the myth of the "insider tip" and fixes. Very Philly.
Posted 12:00 PM, 01/27/2009
cdm48
mazza313 i believe it was the trusty trustees who gave her the raise
9 comments
About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column, which is printed in the business pages of The Philadelphia Inquirer every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Joe has worked at the Inquirer, mostly, since 1988. He has also written for Bloomberg and Gannett, authored the book Comcasted, majored in economics at Penn, and fathered six children. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com

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