How do the top schools in the nation manage to provide their students with such a wealth of resources, opportunities, and grants, all while maintaining generous financial aid programs? The answer lies in the substantial size of their endowments. A college’s endowment, the fund that stores all the money donated to it since its inception, plays a crucial role in shaping the student experience. The longer a school has been around, the more time it has had to accumulate funds and grow its endowments. It’s no surprise, then, that the largest endowments in the world can be found at Harvard University and Yale University, the country’s two oldest institutions of higher education.

Largest College Endowments in the Nation

Here’s a list of the schools with the largest endowments in the United States, as compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics:

University	Rank	Value at End of FY 2021
Harvard University	1	$53,165,753.00
Yale University	2	$42,282,852.00
The University of Texas System Office	3	$40,414,914.00
Stanford University	4	$37,788,187.00
Princeton University	5	$37,026,442.00
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	6	$27,394,039.00
University of Pennsylvania	7	$20,523,546.00
University of Notre Dame	8	$18,385,354.00
Texas A & M University – College Station	9	$16,895,504.00
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor	10	$16,795,776.00
University of California – System Administration Central Office	11	$16,463,910.00
Columbia University	12	$14,349,970.00
Washington University in St Louis	13	$13,668,081.00
Duke University	14	$12,692,472.00
Emory University	15	$12,218,693.00
Northwestern University	16	$11,361,182.00
Vanderbilt University	17	$10,928,512.00
University of Virginia	18	$10,366,578.00
University of Chicago	19	$9,594,956.00
Cornell University	20	$9,474,388.00

There aren’t too many surprises on this list. Among private institutions, the Ivy League schools and other highly selective schools dominate the top of the list, while large university systems such as the University of Texas and the University of California reign supreme among public schools.

So where do these immense sums of money come from, and how do these institutions use them? Colleges rely on the support of private donors to grow their endowments through fundraising campaigns that draw upon the generosity of alumni and prominent philanthropists. The impact of these donors is immense, as seen when billionaire Michael Bloomberg donated nearly $2 billion to Johns Hopkins University, transforming its financial aid program and increasing the university’s ability to admit students without consideration of financial need (although we at Ivy Coach would caution against totally buying into the need-blind myth, no matter the institution!).

Ivy League Endowments, Ranked

Zeroing in on the Ivy League, we find that Harvard, Yale, and Princeton take the cake for the top three highest endowments. As far as spending per student goes, Princeton has the highest endowment on this list, but you wouldn’t know it from just looking at the raw numbers:

Ivy League Institution	Rank	Value at End of FY 2021
Harvard University	1	$53,165,753.00
Yale University	2	$42,282,852.00
Princeton University	3	$37,026,442.00
University of Pennsylvania	4	$20,523,546.00
Columbia University	5	$14,349,970.00
Cornell University	6	$9,474,388.00
Dartmouth College	7	$8,300,000.00
Brown University	8	$6,900,000.00

How Are University Endowments Used?

The vast majority of the average endowment is invested (about 95%). The other 5% is used to fund scholarships, which provide financial aid to students, and endowed chairs for professors. Endowed chairs are prestigious academic positions that are funded by the investment income from an endowment. These positions are often held by distinguished scholars or researchers, and the funding provides them with resources to pursue their work. And why don’t colleges use their endowments to lower tuition? To lower tuition, colleges need to experience more growth that far outpaces the economy and their peers. Most schools cannot muster this kind of return.

Ivy League schools, however, tend to have insider access to alternative funds and capital that are more profitable. Harvard consistently experiences exceptionally high return on investment due to their privileged relationship with many of the top financial institutions in the country (which, not coincidentally, tend to be populated with Harvard alumni!). This feedback loop, where the wealthiest schools are given the best opportunities to grow, means that it’s likely that the top places for the largest university endowments will stay the same over the next generations. At least Harvard and Yale use their formidable endowments to fund incredibly robust financial aid programs for low-income students!