College endowments lost an average of 18.7 percent on their investments last year, the worst showing by far in the nearly 40-year history of the National Association of College and University Business Officers’ annual survey, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
The poor returns, combined with a significant drop in giving, sent the value of endowments down by 23 percent on average, according to the study, results of which were announced Wednesday. In a reversal of past trends, the largest endowments took the biggest hits, with the five biggest — Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, and the University of Texas — reporting investment losses of 22.6 to 27.3 percent for fiscal 2009.
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