Tufts University reports -9.8% fiscal-year return, below -4.2% median

Tufts University's $3 billion investment pool, which includes $2.4 billion in endowment assets, posted a return of -9.8% for the fiscal year ended June 30.

The Medford, Mass.-based university's return fell below the benchmark return of -5.9% for the period, according to the university's annual report posted on its website.

For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the investment pool returned an annualized 9%, 8.3% and 8.4%, respectively, compared to the respective benchmarks of 8.8%, 8.7% and 7.8%.

Return data were net of investment fees and gross of administrative fees.

The investment pool had returned a gross 38.7% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021.

For the most recent fiscal year, the negative return reflected a challenging market environment, particularly within public equities and fixed income. For the year ended June 30, the Russell 3000 index and Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond index returned -13.9% and -10.3%, respectively, in sharp contrast to returns of 44.2% and 4.6% for the year ended June 30, 2021.

Tufts' return for the most recent fiscal year also fell below the median return of -4.2% among the 38 university endowments whose returns have been tracked for the period by Pensions & Investments as of Tuesday.

Overall, it is the second-lowest return tracked thus far. The annual report did not provide returns by asset class or asset allocation information.

The annual report did mention that investment staff made adjustments within its marketable portfolio to reflect rising interest rates, and "Long-term secular themes, such as healthcare and life sciences innovation and acceleration of technology adoption across consumer and enterprise markets, continue to be well-represented in the private investment portfolio."