Comparing Ivy League Endowment Returns

Investment performance for the institutions was the best of the last four fiscal years.



All eight Ivy League institutions have released their endowment investment returns for fiscal 2025, which ended June 30.

Columbia University finished with the highest return for the third consecutive year, all on the heels of a negative 7.6% return in fiscal 2022, which ranked last that year. The University of Pennsylvania, which had been among the three worst-performing returns for each of the last two years, finished a close third in fiscal 2025.


Endowment Return, by Fiscal Year

Institution (AUM) 2025 2024 2023 2022
Columbia ($15.9 B) 12.4% (1) 11.5% (1) 4.7% (1) -7.6% (8)
Cornell ($11.8 B) 12.3% (2) 8.7% (4) 3.6% (2) -1.3% (3)
Penn ($24.8 B) 12.2% (3) 7.1% (6) 1.3% (8) 0% (2)
Brown ($8 B) 11.9% (4) 11.3% (2) 2.7% (4) -4.6% (7)
Harvard ($56.9 B) 11.9% (4) 9.6% (3) 2.9% (3) -1.8% (5)
Yale ($44.1 B) 11.1% (6) 5.6% (7) 1.8% (5) 0.8% (1)
Princeton ($36.4 B) 11.0% (7) 3.9% (8) 1.7% (6) -1.5% (4)
Dartmouth ($9 B) 10.8% (8) 8.4% (5) 1.6% (7) -3.1% (6)
Source: Endowment financial reports 

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