Cornell endowment returns 3.4%

Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., announced Thursday its endowment returned 3.4% for the fiscal year ended June 30.

Endowment assets rose to $6.3 billion from $6.2 billion in the previous fiscal year, a gain of 1.6% despite “challenging market conditions,” Chief Investment Officer A.J. Edwards said in a university news release.

The endowment had a 15.8% return for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014. During the past five years, the annualized rate of return was 10%, the news release said.

“The largest returns for the 2015 fiscal year are from private equity, real estate, hedge funds, domestic equity and enhanced fixed income,” the news release said.

Melissa Osgood, a university spokeswoman, declined to provide details beyond information in the news release.

“Distributions from private equity and real estate continued at a high level,” Mr. Edwards said in the news release. “We continue to make new commitments across private equity, resource related, enhanced fixed income and real estate as well as public markets, as the current level of volatility is creating opportunities to deploy cash.”