By SUSAN JONES
Pitt’s endowment in fiscal year 2022-23 had the highest market value among Western Pennsylvania colleges at $5.49 billion, according to a report from the National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund, but it paled in comparison to the list’s leader — Harvard University at $49.5 billion.
The 688 colleges, universities and education-related foundations that completed the FY23 survey held $839 billion in endowment assets. The average endowment was $1.2 billion and the median was $209.1 million.
The market value of Pitt’s endowment, which ranked 29th in size, dropped 0.7 percent from fiscal year 2022 to 2023. There have been some calls over the years for Pitt to use more money from its endowment to offset losses caused by the pandemic, to help raise salaries, or other causes, but the University has said that taking more money from the unrestricted part of the endowment would have a negative impact on students in the future.
Pitt’s current distribution on the quasi-endowment — non-endowed gifts that are completely free of donor restrictions — is 4.75 percent of the three-year average fair market value. The income distribution on the rest of the endowment is 4.25 percent of the three-year average fair market value.
Seven other public universities ranked ahead of Pitt on the endowment report, including the University of Texas system at No. 2 with a $45 billion endowment (up 5.4 percent from 2022).
The 29 schools with more than $5 billion in their endowments held 58 percent of the total $839 billion for all institutions.
The Pennsylvania school with the largest endowment was the University of Pennsylvania at $20.9 billion (up 1.2 percent form 2022), putting it seventh in the ranking.
The University of Minnesota, where Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel was through most of fiscal year 2023, had an endowment of $5.5 billion — up 2.5 percent from 2022.
Endowments of other regional schools, rank and percent change from FY22 (some of the funds are managed through a related foundation):
20. University of Virginia: $9.8 billion, -0.6 percent
24: Ohio State: $7.4 billion, +6.1 percent
32. Penn State: $4.4 billion, +3.2 percent
34. Carnegie Mellon: $3.9 billion, +0.8 percent
161. West Virginia University: $843.6 million, -3.6 percent
164. Temple: $839 million, +7.8 percent
214. Duquesne: $565 million, +5.4 percent
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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