Endowments at HBCUs Grow at a Slower Rate than PWCs

The historically black colleges and universities with the largest endowment funds all posted smaller than average growth. Howard University continues to have the largest endowment of any black college or university. As of June 30, 2005, its endowment stood at $397,657,000. This was up 7.1 percent from a year earlier.

Spelman College, with an endowment of $258,054,000, had the second-largest fund among the black institutions. For the year ending June 30, 2005, Spelman’s endowment fund was up 5.7 percent from a year earlier.

Hampton University in Virginia had endowment resources of $199 million as of June 30, 2005. Hampton’s endowment grew by 7.1 percent from the earlier year.

Morehouse College is the only other historically black institution with an endowment greater than $100 million. In 2005 the Morehouse College endowment was valued at slightly more than $112 million. It showed an increase of 4.6 percent from a year earlier.

According to a report by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), the typical college endowment fund increased its value by 9 percent in the period from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005.

The largest college and university endowment funds tended to perform better than smaller funds. Among these large funds Stanford posted the most impressive gain of 23 percent. Harvard University, with the nation’s largest endowment of $25.5 billion, enjoyed a 15 percent increase.