“The University of Chicago endowment ended the year at $7.1 billion as of June 30, 2016, following a negative 1.9 percent return on investments for the preceding year as global stock markets declined by 5.3 percent. This performance was above the negative 2.9 percent median return of peer endowments.”
“The average compounded investment result for the University over the past five years was a 5.7 percent gain; the average over the past 10 years was a 6.3 percent gain; and the return over the past 20 years was 9.6 percent. Each compares favorably to the market-based, strategic benchmarks used by the University for these periods.”
I know this year many of its peer schools have not reported favorable results for investment and Chicago looks not too bad this year. But I wonder if Chicago’s investment policy is too conservative compared to its peers’ (especially in good years of stock markets)?
Chicago needs a few billionaires to through them some spare change. Fact of the matter is that our school isn’t geared towards producing those billionaires.
Fifty years of an unpopular College and undergraduate program will eventually hurt any University’s endowment. It is going to take decades for the University to catch-up. It’s only in the last decade or so that the college has started to recover and become popular with undergrads. Will not happen overnight, but going by what we are hearing at the parent weekend from alums who went here in the eighties, the University has completely transformed itself. So many of them told us that they couldn’t believe the transformation. It’s like they were visiting a completely different University. They are now so proud to send their kids here and many of those kids love being here, which surprised both student and parent
One senior even said wistfully that he will miss the college when he graduates!! Imagine that.