News & Notes: Growth in U. endowment slows after two years of dramatic increase

The University’s endowment, valued at $17.1 billion last year, only rose by between 0 and 5 percent in the last year, University President Shirley Tilghman said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek last week. The exact change in the size of the University's endowment will be released by the end of next month.

In the fiscal year 2011, the endowment grew by 22 percent, and it grew by 15 percent in the year prior. This year’s return will be smaller than that of the past two years, but it is still far outpaces the 24-percent drop that the endowment saw in the fiscal year that ended in June 2009.

“Better than we thought we were going to be, say back in January,” Tilghman told Businessweek. “Clearly, after two spectacular years, we’re back on the ground again.”

Princeton’s endowment is the fourth largest in the United States, trailing Harvard, Yale and the University of Texas system.

Correction: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this article misstated the value of the University's endowment. It is $17.1 billion. The 'Prince' regrets the error.