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Showing posts from February, 2022

Higher Ed's Hedgefunds

OK, I got your attention.  That title is admittedly a bit harsh. But before I talk about the data, there are lots of caveats here, and some background will help.  Last week, NACUBO released its 2021 Study of Endowments, along with lots of data for the public, and more if you are a member.  I used the free data here.  The last person you want to get angry at you is the business officers.  So the first caveat is that NACUBO is much quicker than IPEDS in getting data out, and the IPEDS data I'll use here is a year older, and generally, less rosy than the 2021 FY stuff from NACUBO. However, the IPEDS data is more granular.  When talking about endowments, that's important.  The university endowment is not just a big pot of money you can spend, nor is the income always available to you to do whatever you want.  Much of the investment return is restricted, that is, the income can only be used for certain things (an endowed chair in the physical sciences, or a center for the study of S