Princo seeks to earn outstanding long-term investment returns in support of Princeton University’s mission to be a world-class research and higher education institution. Supporting this mission requires spending a sizeable amount of the Endowment each year in a reasonably stable fashion, while also preserving the Endowment’s purchasing power in perpetuity. Spending out of the Endowment must be large enough to ensure that the University devotes proper resources to its human and physical capital, but not at the detriment of future generations’ ability to do the same.
The Endowment supports almost every aspect of the University, including:
- The continual expansion of Princeton’s generous financial aid program and the ongoing expansion of Princeton’s undergraduate student body, which includes more students from first-generation college, lower-income, veteran, transfer and military backgrounds. The University’s financial aid model means that most families with incomes up to $100,000 a year pay nothing toward their student’s cost of attendance, and many families living in the U.S. with incomes up to and even beyond $300,000 receive grant aid, including those at higher income levels with multiple children in college. In the Class of 2028, 71.5% of students qualify for financial aid and 21.7% of the class are lower-income students eligible for federal Pell grants.
- New research that pushes the boundaries of discovery and will have an impact on the world, including in the areas of quantum computing, artificial intelligence, climate science and insights on diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.
- Capital projects that support the growth of the student body, student health and well-being, and the arts on campus.
- Service and social impact programs that allow students and faculty to collaborate with communities near campus, across New Jersey and around the world.
- New outreach programs that support the success of first-generation, lower-income, veteran, community college and transfer students, including partnerships with community college students and teachers in the state.
For the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025, Princeton’s endowment generated an 11.0% investment gain and its value stood at $36.4 billion.
Princeton’s endowment provides roughly two-thirds of the University’s operating revenue, supporting 53% of the student financial aid program, which benefits about 70% of Princeton’s undergraduates and virtually all its graduate students. The endowment also provides crucial support for scientific research that benefits American health, prosperity and security.