How well does GWs endowment perform?
In the last five years, the endowment grew $460 million to $1.1 billion. The average annual return of 14.9 percent during this time outperformed the composite benchmark return of 9.8 percent. This growth represents the seventh best university endowment return rate in the country. However, it must keep growing to compete with our peer institutions. In 2007, the endowment contributed more than $45 million to university operations, or roughly $2,000 for each student. In comparison, endowments at our peer institutions, on average, contributed nearly $8,000 toward each student’s education. GW cannot continue to rely on tuition to prosper academically and remain first rate; we need help from our alumni to continue to advance the university.
