USC’s Endowment Rises

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The University of Southern California ranks among the top 25 largest college endowments and it produced one of the highest returns of the richest U.S. universities, according to a Bloomberg News survey.


USC’s endowment totaled $2.3 billion through June 30, ranking it No. 23 on the list of the 25 largest higher-education endowments. But the L.A.-based private university generated a 17.8 percent return in the 2004 to 2005 period, putting it at No. 9 and beating out colleges with much larger endowments, such as the University of Texas (No.4 overall, $11.6 billion endowment, 13.6 percent return); Princeton University (No. 5, $11.2 billion, 17 percent return); the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (No. 6, $6.7 billion, 17.6 percent return); and the University of California (No. 7, $5.2 billion, 10.3 percent return).


USC was one of only nine universities whose endowments didn’t decline from the 2003 to 2004 period, rising 0.9 percent in 2004-2005 from a 16.9-percent increase in the year-earlier period. Harvard University, whose endowment at $25.9 billion ranked it at No. 1, saw its return increase narrow to 19.2 percent from 21.1 percent in the 2003 to 2004 period. Yale and the University of Virginia led the schools whose returns rose, Bloomberg said.


Universities use endowments to finance the construction of new buildings, pay salaries and offer scholarships. The average fund in the survey rose 15 percent in 2005, down from 17.6 percent a year earlier, Bloomberg said.

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