Chicago-area college endowments ranked
'We are in a storm in this country,' says the chair of Northeastern Illinois University.
The highly selective University of Chicago is supported by one of the largest college endowments in the nation, though the private South Side institution has dropped just outside of the Top 20, an annual study shows.
At the opposite end of the city, and the rankings, sits Northeastern Illinois University — a federally designated Hispanic-serving state school.
(Despite those differences, both universities are wrestling with budget deficits).
This is where the endowments of Chicago-area and other Illinois schools rank nationally in the latest annual study by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO):
School — 2024 endowment — 2023 endowment — % change*
13th — Northwestern — $14.20 billion — $13.69 billion — +3.72%
21st — UChicago — $10.10 billion — $9.86 billion — +2.38%
139th — Loyola — $1.06 billion — $971 million — +9.1%
147th — DePaul — $1.01 billion — $907 million — +2.28%
164th — Rush Med Center — $852 million — $791 million — +7.62%
169th — Midwestern U — $826 million — $743 million — +11.2%
208th — Wheaton — $610 million — $558 million — +9.30%
272nd — School of Art Institute — N/A — $360 million — N/A
385th — Elmhurst —$177 million — $153 million — +15.27%
492nd —North Park — N/A — $98 million — N/A
501st — Lewis — $91 million — $83 million — +9.56%
534th — National Louis — $73 million — $59 million — +23.52%
554th — Erickson Institute — $64 million — $58 million — +10.85%
629th — Meadville Theological — $33 million — $31 million — +6.72%
UChicago slipped from 19th to 21st in the national rankings, which were led by Harvard, Texas, Yale, Stanford and Princeton, whose endowments ranged from $51.97 billion to $34.05 billion.
Northwestern dropped one spot, from 12th to 13th. That school is also encountering the potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding as the Trump administration probes issues — such as pro-Palestinian protests, transgender policies, and efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion — at elite universities.
For years, UChicago’s financial health has been making headlines, such as this one from last November: “U. of C. unveils 4-year plan to close $288 million budget deficit”
The university “chose to operate with a structural budget deficit to allow us to advance rapidly … during a period of low interest rates … ,” President A. Paul Alivisatos explained in the fall of 2023.
Elsewhere in Illinois, the NACUBO study ranked the University of Illinois 39th nationally with a 2024 endowment of $3.68 billion; Illinois State 342nd with $224 million; Southern Illinois-Carbondale 364th with $205 million; Eastern Illinois 451st with $119 million, Northern Illinois 461st with $113 million, and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 609th with $39 million.
Endowments support student financial aid; faculty and staff salaries; operating budgets and more in the higher-education sector — one of Chicago’s major employers and a community anchor in many neighborhoods.
More than 650 colleges and universities participated in this year’s endowment study. Northeastern Illinois (NEIU), located in the North Park residential neighborhood, was one that didn’t. The NEIU Foundation’s latest financials indicate the net assets of the university’s endowment totaled only $23.9 million in 2024.
While NEIU expects to finish the current year in the black, it has been preparing to address an estimated $9.6 million budget gap for fiscal year 2026.
Proposed strategies include a three-percent increase in graduate tuition; higher fees; consolidating programs; revising hiring plans; managing vacancies or delaying hiring; exploring investment options with higher returns; evaluating debt refinancing opportunities; initiatives to increase student credit hours and improve retention, and “leveraging the foundation's resources to close the funding gap through enhanced student support services and campaigning to share in the nursing lab construction costs,” the board of trustees was told in February.
During that meeting, board chair J. Todd Phillips urged everyone to be prepared for severe storms.
“We are in a storm in this country,” he said. “We are in a storm in this community. A financial storm, a political storm … When the governor says that there is a $3.5 billion deficit in the budget, that’s a storm. When we have an administration that is making decisions that challenge the ability of our students to get the education we know they deserve, that’s a storm. It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle you’re on; that’s a storm.”
NEIU’s operating budget in 2025 totaled $155 million, including $41 million from state appropriations, $46 million from tuition, $26 million from federal grants/contracts, and $20 million from state and local grants/contracts.
At the February meeting, one of the NEIU trustees called for a comprehensive fundraising strategy.
The NEIU Foundation, which plays a role in keeping the university affordable and retaining high academic standards, has no employees. The executive director is funded by the university. The latest annual financial report indicates the foundation in 2023-24 provided $937,156 in scholarships to students, some of whom would not otherwise be able to attend.
NEIU’s 2024 fall enrollment was 5,734, of which 48.6% were Hispanic students. (Enrollment rose 4.2% between 2023 and 2024 but remained nearly 20% lower than the 7,119 students enrolled in the fall of 2020).
Northeastern Illinois isn’t Chicago’s only university to have earned designation by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-serving school — defined as having an enrollment of 25% or more of full-time undergraduate students who identify as Hispanic.
Others include nearby North Park University, a private Christian school; National Louis University; and Roosevelt University.
Elsewhere, DePaul is seeking federal designation as a Hispanic-serving institution, which the school says will open the door to federal funds to expand and enhance academic offerings, program quality and student resources.
In December, DePaul announced the hiring of Dania Matos — a Black Latina who had been vice chancellor for equity and inclusion at the University of California, Berkeley — as its vice president for diversity, inclusion and belonging.
Note: The changes in endowment values from 2023 to 2024 include investment gains/losses; donations; the impact of withdrawals, and management fees.
Previously, in Reporting From Albany Park:
Shrinking Chicago Methodists sell, merge, move
NEIU’s Bryn Mawr eyesore back in spotlight