How Ivy Leagues are worth billions

The Yale model of investment allocation, explained

College endowment managers long held to the traditional allocation of 60% domestic stocks and 40% bonds. But Yale’s David Swensen developed a new approach: deprioritizing low-risk fixed income and liquid assets in favor of alternative investments to leverage endowments' long-term investment horizons and capture the “liquidity premium.”

How universities manage their endowments

The CNBC video report explores how elite universities like Harvard handle their massive endowments, the ethical debates around their investments, and the tension between growing wealth and rising college costs. If you’re curious about where billions of dollars in higher education go, why tuition remains high despite huge endowments, or how student activism is pushing for ethical investing, this video offers a revealing, accessible look at the financial engines behind America’s top colleges.

Why endowments took off at the turn of the century

After the Civil War, economic growth boosted philanthropy, much of it ending up in universities and colleges. Charles Eliot, the longtime president of Harvard, realized a university’s success was determined by how much money it could hold in the endowment. His approach to endowments radically changed their role in the modern university.

How university endowments invest in the capital markets

This PitchBook article explores how university endowments invest in capital markets to support their institutions. It explains how endowments are structured and managed to generate returns that fund scholarships, research, and operations. The piece also discusses the evolution of endowment investment strategies. This is a valuable read for understanding the financial mechanisms behind academic endowments.

The largest university endowments in the US

This US News article ranks the 20 universities with the largest endowments in the United States, based on data from the 2022 fiscal year. Harvard tops the list at more than $50B, followed by Yale, Stanford, and Princeton. Check out this snapshot of how these financial resources support academic programs, research, and student aid.

In 2018, roughly one-third of Yale graduates went into either finance or consulting

Every year, top consulting firms head to career fairs at Ivy League universities like Yale across the country. They end up recruiting a significant population of the student body by graduation.

Reasons the wealthy like to give to universities

Every year, higher education receives the lion’s share of philanthropy for key reasons. Universities have huge budgets and can handle big sums. They also oversee a broad range of initiatives tailored to an individual’s goals, and are particularly credible institutions with long track records and strong brands.

Difficulty of getting into every Ivy League school

Harvard graduates have the highest average starting salary in the country at $91,700. But getting to graduation at any Ivy League school like Harvard is no easy feat. This visual breaks down exactly how difficult getting into an Ivy League school is, from Yale to Cornell, including average admission rates, median SAT scores, and more. See the graphic here.

What are college endowments? An expert explains

College endowments are meant to last forever. That's why some of the oldest, most prestigious schools in the US have lasted so long. A higher education finance expert weighs in on how these funds work and offers fascinating tidbits on how they impact university finances.

Nearly half of billionaires plan to increase exposure to direct private equity investments in 2026

In a global survey administered by the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), 49% of billionaires plan to continue investing in companies by providing direct access to capital. However, only 37% of billionaires plan to increase their investments in private equity funds.

Value investing is the strategy of buying assets you believe are worth more than their current price

Famed investor Warren Buffett is known for building his empire with this strategy, which he learned from his mentor Benjamin Graham.

Family offices have been increasing their allocations to private credit

Private firms that manage family fortunes have been investing more in alternatives like venture capital and real estate, impacting the wider financial world.

Eleven of modern history's greatest investors

The greatest investors have all made a fortune off of their success and, in many cases, have helped millions of others achieve similar returns. Read about the lives and approaches of Carl Icahn, Warren Buffett, George Soros, and more.

How men's volleyball teams are saving struggling colleges in the US

Many colleges and universities in the US are facing severe financial pressure from a mix of decreasing research funding, lower enrollment, and, overall, a decreased interest in higher education. For some colleges, beefing up athletic programs that aren't available at all schools, like men's volleyball, is attracting new students.

How ‘vulture’ hedge funds make money

Some hedge funds specialize in snapping up distressed assets, like failing newspaper chains, and further stripping down their operational expenses in a bid to make a profit from the initial capital outlay. Delve into how one secretive firm known for the practice operates—and what’s at stake for the broader economy.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Investment bankers are architects of the largest financial transactions in the world

Working up to 120 hours a week, investment bankers help major corporations navigate IPOs, mergers, and more. Despite long hours and a high-pressure environment, investment banking remains a critical industry that shapes the global financial landscape.

80% of a VC firm's returns come from 20% of the deals, per VC's 'power law'

Early-stage startups are highly risky investments. Many companies in a VC portfolio will not provide any significant return.

Activist investors use large ownership positions to influence companies

By holding large ownership positions, which often come with leveraged access to a company's board or the ability to force a shareholder vote, activist shareholders can change a company's corporate governance, leadership, and overall direction. Critics argue that activist shareholders hurt companies in the long term by prioritizing short-term higher shareholder returns over sustainability and growth efforts.

Private schools don’t inherently boost student performance

High test scores in private schools often reflect affluent, selective student bodies—not superior instruction. Studies show that private school advantages stem largely from socioeconomic factors and admission policies, not institutional quality.

As part of their donations to advancing education, Barbara and Ray Dalio have invested in Trump accounts

The Dalios have committed $250 per child to 300,000 children under 10 years old in Connecticut who live in ZIP codes where the median income is less than $150K—an expected total of at least $75M. The money is designated for "Trump Accounts," or investment accounts with $1K provided to children to put towards education or starting a small business.

The major AI industry players are creating a web of circular investments

Bloomberg created a network diagram that shows how companies like Nvidia and OpenAI are fueling the AI money machine. The chart shows that many top AI companies provide significant investments to one another.

Why companies go public

There are many ways the founders of private companies can make money off an exit. They could sell the company to a larger organization, for instance. But there are unique benefits to having a company listed on the stock market that aren’t often outlined in news alerts about IPOs.

Find out how airlines quietly became banks

Some experts suggest airlines lose money on every flight. This video dives into how airlines have leveraged their loyalty programs to make billions of dollars, effectively evolving into banks.

Former US Senator Mitt Romney cofounded a revolutionary private equity firm

Mitt Romney cofounded Bain Capital—a private investment group that manages more than $215B—in the 1980s before becoming a politician. Bain Capital is credited with revolutionizing private equity by focusing on consolidating and streamlining business operations rather than relying on financial engineering to increase company profits.

Y Combinator changed the way startups around the world are built

Many of the philosophies that the leaders of Y Combinator have infused into the program’s portfolio companies have become the playbook for building the next big thing, such as its focus on founder personality and more.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Poison ivy was sent to Europe in the 1600s as an exotic, ornamental oddity, where it was purposefully grown in the English royal gardens at Kew, the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, and a few other locations.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.