Although most college and university endowments have not yet recovered their losses from the 2008 economic crisis, average returns have nearly bounced back to their rates prior to 2008, Inside Higher Ed reported Tuesday. The National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund found that institutions of all sizes have seen an average return of 19.8 percent this year, according to initial data collected in a yearly survey. Institutions with endowments greater than $1 billion typically take a riskier approach to investment, resulting in high payoffs in economically stable years but a greater fall in 2008, Inside Higher Ed reported. Smaller institutions invest more conservatively, garnering lower returns as well as losses, according to Inside Higher Ed. Despite notable growth, most institutions with large endowments have not returned to their pre-recession levels. Most endowments will require several more years of positive returns to recover from the financial crisis, Inside Higher Ed reported.
The population of international students attending American graduate schools has increased by 8 percent from the previous year, showing a significant growth in foreign enrollment since the recession, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on Tuesday. Though this trend bodes well for higher education, the Council of Graduate Schools which produced the report with the findings based on a 2011 survey of international graduate admissions is concerned that the increase primarily comes from China, which experienced a 21-percent increase in gradudate student enrollment in the United States. Growth driven by one country is probably "not a healthy thing for U.S. graduate schools," Nathan Bell, director of research and policy analysis at the council, said in an interview with The Chronicle.
Due to the rising cost of tuition and poor economic conditions in Latin America, Cornell University has seen a significant decline in the enrollment of Latin American students over the last two decades, The Cornell Daily Sun reported on Tuesday. A 2010-2011 report from Cornell's International Students and Scholars Office found that approximately 240 students from Latin American countries were enrolled at the end of the 1990s and in the 2000s, while only 186 were enrolled in 2011, according to The Daily Sun. The decline may also stem from Cornell's failure to meet the full financial needs of international students and a decrease in financial support for graduate students from Latin American governments. Though the enrollment of Latin American students has declined, Cornell saw a record high in international enrollment in the past year, bringing the percentage of international students up to 17.5 percent, according to The Daily Sun.
