$600 million has evaporated from the Vanderbilt University endowment since June. While a startling figure, losses weren’t as bad as university officials feared.
Vanderbilt started the fiscal year with $3.5 billion – the 23rd largest university endowment in the country. The funds have since dropped by 16.5 percent. That compares with the S & P index dropping 30 percent during the same period. A mid-year survey by the National Association of College and Business Officers indicates Vanderbilt has fared better than the average endowment, which has lost nearly 23 percent since July 1st.
Chancellor Nick Zeppos says Vanderbilt is still on stable footing.
“We take the long view, I mean, really long view. We’re beginning in 1873. We still have original endowments that have grown through panics and depressions and wars.”
In the last few years, about 5 percent of Vanderbilt’s operating budget was endowment money. Most recently, that’s $130 million.
Most institutions in the state spend their endowments on scholarships, and some are reporting deeper losses. Trevecca, for instance, has watched its endowment lose 30 percent of its value. But that’s a little less than $5 million.
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