Cornell’s endowment returned 8.7% in the fiscal year ending June 30, adding nearly $860 million in net investment gains to close with a value of approximately $10.7 billion, according to the Office of University Investments.

Over the past five years, the endowment has generated an annualized 10% return, exceeding the annualized benchmark return of 9%.

“The university endowment achieved a strong gain in FY 2024,” said Chief Investment Officer Kenneth Miranda. “The endowment is intergenerational in its time horizon, and we will continue to maintain the diversification and long-term structure necessary to withstand changes in market conditions.”

Cornell’s endowment consists of more than 8,000 individual accounts, the vast majority of which are restricted by donors for specific purposes for the lifetime of the university. The endowment is invested to generate funds in perpetuity that support mission-critical priorities including financial aid and other student support, research, academic programs, faculty salaries and stipends, and facilities.

In FY 2024, the endowment contributed $411 million toward these expenses, equivalent to about 7% of the university’s operating revenue.

Over the past year, Miranda said, the university’s investments contended with challenges from inflation, technological change, economic uncertainty and ongoing geopolitical tensions. Publicly traded assets generated strong returns, reflecting robust economic growth, positive sentiment around falling inflation and expectations of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

Cornell’s long-term orientation, portfolio structure and asset allocation are designed to weather market fluctuations and reflect the Office of University Investments’ multiyear effort to diversify investments and strategies, reduce fees and enhance liquidity and flexibility. FY 2024’s 8.7% return followed a 3.6% gain in FY 2023; a 1.3% loss in FY 2022; and a historically high 41.9% gain in FY 2021.

Cornell’s undergraduate enrollment is substantially larger than all other Ivy League schools. As a result, on a per-student basis, Cornell’s endowment remains smaller than many peer institutions’, ranking 71st among U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities surveyed in the 2023 NACUBO-TIAA Study of Endowments.

At the same time, generous giving to endowed scholarship funds and other philanthropy supporting student aid has allowed the university to invest in financial aid at a rate that significantly exceeds annual tuition increases. For FY 2025, Cornell has committed more than $430 million to institutional financial aid through Cornell grants, which do not need to be repaid, continuing a trend that has seen institutional assistance rise more than 50% over the last five years. Grant funding has more than tripled in the past 20 years, making Cornell more affordable for aided students today than it was two decades ago.

“The Office of University Investments will continue to seek to preserve and grow the real value of the endowment to support the university’s mission,” Miranda said. “Our diversified portfolio, experienced investment team and rigorous processes position the endowment well to achieve these goals.”