It appears that there are some signs of economic recovery (as of summer 2009). How is the College’s endowment doing?
Although the College’s endowment has recovered somewhat from its low in March, it is still down significantly (around 20%) for this fiscal year. While Holy Cross was forced to make significant budget cuts for the coming fiscal year, the real brunt of the losses will be felt in future years. That’s because we base the percentage of endowment funds that go to the operating budget each year on a three-year rolling average of the endowment value − with a lag year built in. So for the 2009 -10 academic year, the percentage will be based on the average value of the endowment in fiscal 2006, 2007 and 2008. Those were, by and large, good years. While the endowment lost value in 2008, it had gained 20 percent in 2007. The rolling average is designed to smooth out bumps in endowment growth or loss, but it will also be pushing off the real hit of the 2009 endowment losses into future years.
