A Banner Year for Endowment Growth at the Black Colleges

The National Association of College and University Business Officers reports that from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007, the typical college endowment fund increased its value by 17.2 percent.  The universities with the largest endowments of over $1 billion did even better. They posted an average growth of 21.3 percent.

The historically black colleges and universities traditionally achieve smaller than average gains in their endowment funds. But for this year at least, many of the historically black colleges and universities outperformed the nation’s wealthiest universities in endowment growth. Howard University continues to have the largest endowment of any black college or university. As of June 30, 2007, its endowment stood at $523,690,000. This was a whopping increase of 23.5 percent from a year earlier.

Hampton University in Virginia had endowment resources of $257 million as of June 30, 2007. This is the third-largest endowment among the black colleges. Hampton’s endowment grew by 18.1 percent from the earlier year. This bested the national average.

Several other historically black institutions in the NACUBO survey outperformed the nation’s wealthiest institutions. This year the Morehouse School of Medicine endowment grew 22.3 percent to $56.4 million. Bethune-Cookman University saw its endowment increase by nearly 21.2 percent in the July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007 period. Virginia State University posted a 23.5 percent increase in endowment value over the past year.

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