After reporting record gains following the pandemic, endowment growth at many of the wealthiest colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area have leveled off, or in some cases even fallen, write Joanne Drilling and Ryan Mulligan for the Philadelphia Business Journal.
From fiscal 2019 to 2022, endowments at the region’s 20 wealthiest colleges grew by an average of 34 percent.
The University of Pennsylvania, the nation’s sixth-wealthiest school, recorded an endowment growth of 41.5 percent in that same period despite only seeing a one percent rise in 2022. The school’s endowment is now at just under $21 billion.
Thomas Jefferson University was the Philadelphia-area school with the largest increase. It saw its endowment grow by more than 160 percent in the three-year period in part as a result of healthcare acquisitions and transferred resources.
Saint Joseph’s University’s endowment also went up significantly, by 72 percent from 2019 to 2022, partly due to its merger with the University of the Sciences.
However, when only observing the end of fiscal 2021 to the end of fiscal 2022 period, the region’s 20 wealthiest colleges saw an average 0.2 percent decline in their endowments amid the slumping capital markets.
Read more about the fluctuating college endowment levels across the region at the Philadelphia Business Journal.
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