PROVIDENCE – Brown University reported a 12.6 percent return on its investments for fiscal year 2013, up from a 1 percent return a year earlier, the university announced Tuesday.
The long-term pool, which includes the endowment and other university funds, rose to a market value of $2.86 billion as of June 30. In fiscal year 2012, the endowment closed with a market value of $2.52 billion.
“The endowment is a critical part of Brown’s operating budget, providing essential funding for need-blind admission, endowed professorships and all of our academic programs, institutes and centers,” said Brown President Christina Paxson, in a release. “Income from the endowment contributed nearly 16 percent of the University’s operating budget for the 2013 fiscal year – approximately $16,000 per student.”
Forty-four percent of current Brown undergraduates receive financial aid directly from the university, for which Brown budgeted $90.1 million in the 2013 fiscal year, the release stated.
The endowment also supports graduate student fellowships, library acquisitions, the Division of Biology and Medicine, all varsity sports and building maintenance.
Brown’s press release didn’t include comparisons to any sort of benchmarks. But as a business publication, why didn’t PBN include such comparisons in its new story, rather than simply repeating the press release?