Data from the 2023 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments® (NCSE) show that the endowments of 688 participating U.S. colleges and universities and affiliated foundations returned 7.7 percent, net of fees, for the fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023), a sharp reversal of the -8.0 percent return reported for the fiscal year 2022.
In total, participating institutions withdrew $28.4 billion from their endowments during the fiscal year, an 8.4 percent year-over-year increase. According to the report, the largest share of institutions’ spending policy distributions in the fiscal year 2023, 47.7 percent, went to student financial aid; other spending was distributed across academic programs and included research (17.5 percent), endowed faculty positions (11.1 percent), operation and maintenance of campus facilities (7.4 percent), and all other purposes (16.4 percent).
“From the point of view of college and university chief business officers, the resul
