The University's endowment grew by 6 percent, but its investments lost 1.4 percent of its value.
Credit: Luke Chen
Penn reported an endowment investment loss of 1.4 percent, while the fund's overall value grew 6 percent to a record high of $10.7 billion, according to Bloomberg.
The figures for the 2016 fiscal year were announced on Thursday. This year's investment loss contrasted strongly with the investment fund's 7.4 percent increase last year, which had produced $656 million in gains for Penn.
The dip in investment performance was attributed to poor stock performance of global public equities, according to a statement from Penn, while the fund's overall value grew in part due to an increase in new gifts to the school, as well as fund transfers from Lancaster General Health, which was recently integrated into Penn's Health System.
Penn's endowment allows the school to support a wide range of services and initiatives. In the 2015 fiscal year, 57.5 percent of the endowment went to instruction, 17.2 percent to health care and 17.6 percent to student aid.
According to the Penn's Office of Investments website, the majority of its endowment is put into the Associated Investments Fund, a "pooled investment vehicle." It was this fund that returned a loss of 1.4 percent, specifically in the area of international equities, which 16.1 percent of the AIF went to in the 2015 fiscal year.
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