NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale University said Tuesday its nearly $23 billion endowment has dropped 25 percent to about $17 billion in recent months due to the recession, prompting the college to delay construction projects and take other cost-cutting measures.
Yale normally provides an annual update on its endowment, but Yale President Richard Levin provided the update Tuesday amid concerns over the effect of the financial turmoil rocking Wall Street.
Yale said in September that its endowment earned a 4.5 percent return in the fiscal year ending June 30, bringing total assets to $22.9 billion. Yale's "best estimate" of the endowment's value now is $17 billion, a decline of 25 percent since June 30, Levin said.
The 25 percent decline has a very significant impact on operations because income from the endowment supports 44 percent of the university's annual expense base of $2.7 billion, Levin said.
