In college endowment returns, Davids beat the Goliaths

IN the world of money management, bigger is often considered better. College and university endowments greater than US$1 billion, for example, have long outperformed their smaller rivals.

That may be changing.

In the latest annual National Association of College and University Business Officers-Commonfund study of endowment performance, the smallest endowments - those under US$25 million - edged out the biggest endowments, averaging a five-year annualised return of 10.6 per cent to the US$1 billion-plus category's 10.4 per cent.