The end of the year is a time when many people are thinking about making year-end donations for tax purposes. College and university endowments are a popular choice, especially for donors of substantial means. This article will rank the top private institutions of higher education by the total size of their endowed funds. See if your alma mater is on the list, and if not and you happen to be a multi-billionaire, maybe you’ll donate enough to put it there!

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• Endowments can provide a stable, long-term financial base for educational institutions. 
• Some of the oldest universities in the country have the largest endowments, which have in some cases had a couple of centuries to accumulate. 

What is an Endowment?

An endowment is a fund made up of donated money that can indefinitely fund the educational mission of a college or university. Endowments are legally structured so that they can only be used for an intended purpose. Payouts are made from the profits of the investment so that the endowment can be a permanent source of income. Endowments are often used to fund scholarships, professorships, research, and public service projects.

The Good and the Bad of Endowments

An advantage of this funding structure to a college is that it can give the institution greater stability and academic freedom as it is not as dependent on current and new donors. Wealthy people often make large donations to institutional endowments, which give them tax benefits and preserve their legacy for generations to come.

However, endowments can be controversial when an institution seems to favor ideological positions that influential segments of the population oppose. Endowments also have restrictions on how they can be used, so they may be inaccessible to help out at a time when an institution has significant needs in other areas, which it may fund by raising tuition, cutting staff and operating expenses, or putting the squeeze on new donors. 

16. Rice University

• Endowments: $7.8 billion
• Location: Houston, TX
• Founded: 1912
• Enrollment: 4,574
• Famous graduates: Howard Hughes,  John Doerr, Peggy Whitson

15. Dartmouth College

• Endowments: $8 billion
• Location: Hannover, NH
• Founded: 1769
• Enrollment: 4,447
• Famous graduates: Robert Frost, Dr. Suess, Mindy Kaling

14. Johns Hopkins University

• Endowments: $8.2 billion
• Location: Baltimore, MD
• Founded: 1876
• Enrollment: 6,090
• Famous graduates: Mike Bloomberg, Woodrow Wilson, Wes Craven

13. University of Chicago

• Endowments: $8.6 billion
• Location: Chicago, IL
• Founded: 1890
• Enrollment: 7,489
• Famous graduates: Carl Sagan, Susan Sontag, Roger Ebert

12. Cornell University

• Endowments: $9.3 billion
• Location: Ithaca, NY
• Founded: 1865
• Enrollment: 16,071
• Famous graduates: Bill Nye, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Christopher Reeve

11. Vanderbilt University

• Endowments: $10.9 billion
• Location: Nashville, TN
• Founded: 1873
• Enrollment: 7,152
• Famous graduates: James Patterson, Fred Dalton Thompson, Muhammad Yunus

10. Emory University

• Endowments: $11.2 billion
• Location: Atlanta, GA
• Founded: 1836
• Enrollment: 7,359
• Famous graduates: Sam Nunn, Newt Gingrich, Jimmy Carter

9. Washington University in St. Louis

• Endowments: $12.3 billion
• Location: St. Louis
• Founded: 1853
• Enrollment: 8,267
• Famous graduates: Peter Sarsgaard, C.P. Wang, Ann Hirsh

8. Duke University

• Endowments: $12.7 billion
• Location: Durham, NC
• Founded: 1838
• Enrollment: 6,488
• Famous graduates: Tim Cook, Melinda French Gates, Richard Nixon

7. University of Notre Dame

• Endowments: $17.1 billion
• Location: Notre Dame, IN
• Founded: 1842
• Enrollment: 6,488
• Famous graduates: Condoleezza Rice, Phil Donahue, Nicholas Sparks

6. University of Pennsylvania

• Endowments: $20.7 billion
• Location: Philadelphia, PA
• Founded: 1755
• Enrollment: 9,995
• Famous graduates: Elon Musk, John Legend, Noam Chomsky

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Endowments: $24.6 billion
• Location: Cambridge, MA
• Founded: 1861
• Enrollment: 4,576
• Famous graduates: Kofi Annan, Buzz Aldrin, Richard Feynman 

4. Princeton University

• Endowments: $35 billion
• Location: Princeton, NJ
• Founded: 1746
• Enrollment: 5,671
• Famous graduates: Jeff Bezos, Michelle Obama, Woodrow Wilson

3. Stanford University

• Endowments: $36.3 billion
• Location: Stanford, CA
• Founded: 1885
• Enrollment: 8,054
• Famous alumni: John Steinbeck, Tiger Woods, John F. Kennedy

2. Yale University

• Endowments: $41.4 billion
• Location: New Haven, CT
• Founded: 1701
• Enrollment: 6,818
• Famous alumni: Maryl Streep, George H.W. Bush, Hillary Clinton

1. Harvard University

• Endowments: $50.9 billion
• Location: Cambridge, MA
• Founded: 1636
• Enrollment: 7,110
• Famous alumni: Natalie Portman, Mark Zuckerberg, Matt Damon

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