Interactive Chart: University Endowments’ Debt

Schools across the U.S. have been struggling to dig themselves out of the hole created when the markets crashed. The ten largest endowment funds alone lost a combined $36 billion before the sinking markets began to stabilize in March 2009 and large US colleges and universities issued more than $7 billion in taxable bonds.

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Gold bars are displayed for a photograph at Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry K. K.'s store in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, June 26, 2009. Gold touched a two-week high and marked its first weekly gain since May as the dollar weakened and a benchmark lending rate touched a record low in London, increasing the metal’s appeal as an alternative investment. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg News

Schools across the US have been struggling to dig themselves out of the hole created when the markets crashed. The ten largest endowment funds alone lost a combined $36 billion before the sinking markets began to stabilize in March 2009 and large US colleges and universities have issued more than $7 billion in taxable bonds.

Institutional Investor has created an interactive chart of ten of the largest bond issuers, their operating expenses for the 2009 fiscal year, how much they issued in taxable bonds, and the size of their endowments in 2009 and 2010.

To find out how endowments took on billions in debt during the crisis, read John Keefe’s story from the April edition. To find out how university endowments have built better risk management practices since the crisis, read Institutional Investor senior writer Frances Denmark’s story. Also, watch Frances Denmark discussing her story on CNBC.

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