Cornell reported a 12.3 percent return on its endowment for the 2025 fiscal year, according to a University statement released on Tuesday.
The endowment’s total value rose from $10.7 billion in fiscal year 2024 to approximately $11.8 billion, according to Christopher Cowen, the University’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Kenneth Miranda, chief investment officer, in the statement.
In April 2025, Cornell announced that the Trump administration had frozen $1 billion in federal funding, including more than 75 stop-work orders from the U.S. Department of Defense, amid investigations of civil rights concerns. This action triggered a University-wide cost-cutting wave among different colleges.
In a recent interview with The Sun, President Michael Kotlikoff and Provost Kavita Bala said that Cornell currently faces about $250 million in federal stop-work orders and terminations, along with an additional $80 million owed to the University for programs where expenses have been incurred but not yet reimbursed by the federal government.
In August, Cornell released a “Next steps for our financial future” statement spelling out urgent hiring freezes, spending restrictions and program reviews. In October, the College of Arts and Sciences announced nearly $11 million in internal budget cuts, roughly 2.4 percent of its $456 million budget.
Cornell’s endowment is limited to what it can fund each year. Every year, the University is only able to withdraw about 4.4 percent of the fund’s average value over the past 7 years, according to Cornell’s 2024-2025 Consolidated Financial Statements.
According to the statement, in fiscal year 2025, the endowment contributed $439 million toward Cornell's financial aid, research, academic programs, faculty salaries and facilities expenses that would otherwise be funded by sources like tuition. In fiscal year 2024, the endowment contributed $411 million toward these expenses, equivalent to about 7 percent of the University’s operating revenue.
For the 2025–2026 academic year, Cornell allocated a record $463 million in institutional grants and scholarship aid that does not need to be repaid, “making Cornell more affordable for aided students than it was two decades ago,” according to the statement.
Cornell enrolls more undergraduates than other Ivy League schools, and its endowment is significantly smaller on a per student basis than many peer institutions, ranking 71st among U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities surveyed in the 2024 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments.
Kristie To is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Kristie is a senior writer for the News department and can be reached at kto@cornellsun.com.
