Wednesday, August 1, 2007

University Endowment News

Inside Higher Ed:
Harvard University’s endowment lost about $350 million in the last month because of poor performance by a hedge fund led by a former senior endowment manager at the university, The Wall Street Journal reported. The fund, Sowood Capital Management, recently lost more than half of its value. While $350 million is more than many colleges have ever had in their endowments, there won’t be cries of financial exigency coming from Cambridge. Harvard’s endowment is worth about $29 billion.

I wonder what it looks like after last week's downturn?
I guess that takes care of my contributions for the past 35 years, and the next several thousand.

Wasn't there a ruckus about compensation to Harvard's in-house endowment managers a few years ago? Did it make cosmetic sense to move them out, and compensate at (short) arm's length?

Has anyone published a comparison of returns on endowment covering the elite private schools and the publics with significant endowments? One reads about especially handsome performance by Yale and Princeton (esp. after big market reversals). I guess with rewards come risks.

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