How's the Endowment Doing?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wesleyan University
1

<p>I can't find any recent figures online. Wikipedia has info from 2009...</p>

2

<p>P.S. I read and definitely took stock in your last post re: Wesleyan’s endowment, johnwesley. I’m just curious!</p>

3

<p>^^^Oh, I understand. :p</p>

<p>In answer to your question, though, it hasn’t changed that much: up about $10 million last April (using the Wiki figure of $523 million as a base): <a href=“http://frontpage.wesleyan.edu/finance/financeDept/budget/2010_11BudgetReport.pdf[/url]”>http://frontpage.wesleyan.edu/finance/financeDept/budget/2010_11BudgetReport.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>down $20 million the following June which was the end of the fiscal year: <a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/finance/financeDept/reporting/Annual%20Financial%20Reports/2009-2010.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/finance/financeDept/reporting/Annual%20Financial%20Reports/2009-2010.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>One reason the endowment hasn’t fluctuated much is because nowadays only about 20% the endowment is invested in traditional, market-traded instruments like stocks and bonds that move daily in price. The rest is invested in private equity with varying degrees of risk and liquidity; fully half is invested in so-called Level 3 assets which by definition have no readily available market data and are instead subject to complicated accounting standards in order to arrive at their fair market value at any given time. </p>

<p>This is one reason why Wesleyan would prefer not to rely on the endowment for more than 20% of its operating budget at any given time; it insulates the university from the sudden demands of the private investment community and maixmizes the ability of fund managers to respond to opportunites which may arise.</p>

4

<p>$55,000/yr for juniors and seniors??? I didn’t notice this fee increase. That’s pretty bad, even by LAC standards.</p>

5

<p>it’s about $4,000 more than Pomona for junior and senior years, presumably because Pomona students live in the same dormitories all four years: [Tuition</a> and Costs - Pomona College](<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/administration/business-office/student-accounts/tuition-costs.aspx]Tuition”>Cost of Attendance | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College)</p>

6

<p>This is true. And the graduated independence system is pretty sweet compared to four years in a dorm, IMHO. Any idea whether program houses and senior woodframes are more expensive than dorms at the flat rate, or just because of expenses like food and house maintenance? Also, do you know if RAs can get free or reduced housing at Wes?</p>

<p>Thanks for all of your help johnwesley!</p>

7

<p>all frosh and sophomores are charged one comprehensive residential fee, all juniors and seniors pay one slightly higher fee, because the average cost of living in apartments and houses is higher than the dorms. note that the price of tuition/room and board does not generally affect students on financial aid. </p>

<p>I believe RAs get free housing (or get a salary equivalent to the cost of housing, something like that).</p>

8

<p>Wesleyan is the third major LAC to report their endowment returns for this fiscal year. Bowdoin and Dartmouth weighed in at 19% (22% total return) and 13% (18.4% total return) respectively. </p>

<p>Wesleyan’s new CIO, was only in office less than a year so. Add the fact that she is a protege of Yale’s David Swensen, at a time when private equity was a dirty word, and you’d have to have been an eternal optimist to expect her to knock one out of the ballpark so soon. But, the latest Financial Statement which covers the period ending, June 30, 2011, suggests otherwise:</p>

<p>1) A 17% increase in endowment market value (from $513 million to $601 million)
2) A 20% total return on investment (gross increase in market value prior to application to operating expenses)
3) A 5.5% draw from the endowment for university operating expenses (based on a moving 12 quarter average.)
4) No increase in debt.
5) An actual increase in the value of so-called Level Three investments (whether this is due to positive returns on liquidations or to increased allocations – or, both – is hard to tell)
<a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/finance/financeDept/reporting/Annual%20Financial%20Reports/2010-2011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/finance/financeDept/reporting/Annual%20Financial%20Reports/2010-2011.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For more information on Wesleyan’s new CIO, here is an article published shortly after she took the helm:
<a href=“http://www.ai-cio.com/channel/ASSET_ALLOCATION/Interrogation__Anne_Martin_Thinks_Liquidity_Is_Key.html[/url]”>http://www.ai-cio.com/channel/ASSET_ALLOCATION/Interrogation__Anne_Martin_Thinks_Liquidity_Is_Key.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;