U. endowment not among top 10

The National Association of College and University Business Officers released a list last Wednesday of the universities with the 10 highest endowments nationwide. Penn was not named among them. The University was ranked 12th in the survey -- the same as last year, according Lucy Momjian, associate treasurer for investments. The University's endowment is a $1.4 billion fund, invested largely in common stocks and other securities. Interest from the investments is used to pay for research, student aid and other scholarly pursuits, but administrators rarely dip into the actual endowment for financial support. Penn has never been ranked as one of the schools with the 10 highest endowments, University Treasurer Scott Lederman said. Harvard University ranked first with an endowment of $7 billion. The University of Texas had the second largest endowment, at $5 billion in funds. Other schools on the list included Yale, Princeton, Stanford and Emory universities. Momjian explained that Penn spent numerous years as 15th in the nation, before shooting ahead to 12th last year. She speculated that this jump is due to "excellent investments." Momjian added that the University is very lucky to have John Ness at the head of its investment board, saying that Ness is willing to provide his services in this area to the Penn free of charge. "His performance and lack of fees have aided our total endowment," she said. Momjian added that despite not being in the top 10, Penn has comparatively superior investments when compared to other high endowment institutions. "Of the 221 schools ranked in November's preliminary report, Penn was in the top 39, making it part of the top 18 percent of schools concerning investments," she explained. Momjian added that schools with higher investments than Penn were very fortunate in having skilled investment teams early on. "Historically, some of our peer universities have simply been more aggressive in finances," she said. Momjian said donations and gifts to the University also make up a big part of endowment funds. She explained that the University regularly asks alumni to donate money for endowments. "We've just finished our campaign for this year and it was a major focal point," she said. "With its completion and gifts starting to come in, our endowment level has shot way up."