The 30 Universities With the Largest Endowments

College is an expensive investment, meaning many students may need to rely on financial aid in the form of a university's endowments.

These are trust funds generating revenue from donated money and financial assets—ad the size of some Ivy League college endowments reportedly run into the tens of billions.

Bill Staib, CEO of higher education comparison site College Raptor, responsible for this analysis, suggests the size of a university's endowment "can provide a useful point of comparison when students and their families are searching for best-fit colleges."

"A large endowment often means that the institution can provide more financial aid, can invest more in great faculty and facilities, and can establish unique experiential programs and initiatives, all of which work to support student success," he told Newsweek.

The data, sourced from the Department of Education's IPEDs data center using the most recently reported endowment data (2018-2019), shows how all but one institution in the top ten largest endowments (Northwestern University) has grown in the past year.

Read on to discover the American universities with the largest endowments, according to College Raptor's analysis.

30. Boston University ($2,311,388,000)

Established in 1839, Boston is a private East Coast research college with a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church.

The most popular majors on offer at this Massachusetts-based university include Business, Communications and Economics.

29. University of Rochester ($2,318,529,000)

Rochester is a private research New York-based college considered among the smallest and most collegiate among America's most elite universities.

Popular majors at this highly rated mid-sized higher education institution include Nursing, Biology and Computer Science.

28. Pomona College ($2,321,097,000)

Founded in 1887, Pomona is a private liberal arts university located in Claremont, California.

The most popular majors at this college range from Economics, Mathematics and Computer Science.

27. Boston College ($2,433,821,107)

Boston is a private, Jesuit research college in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts founded in 1863.

Popular majors at this highly rated mid-sized establishment include Economics, Psychology and Finance.

26. Amherst College ($2,473,283,206)

Chartered in 1821, Amherst College is a private liberal arts institution based in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Popular majors at this highly rated private college include Mathematics, Economics and Research and Experimental Psychology.

25. University of Richmond ($2,513,209,000)

The University of Richmond is a private, not-for-profit liberal arts college based in Virginia.

Popular majors at this university include Business, Organizational Behavior Studies, and Liberal Arts and Humanities.

24. Williams College ($2,744,103,362)

Established in 1793, Williams is a private liberal arts university in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

The most popular majors at this college include Economics, English, and Political Science and Government.

23. California Institute of Technology ($2,987,001,000)

Caltech is an elite, and small-sized private research university in the city of Pasadena, California.

Popular majors at this institution with extremely competitive admission rates include Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering.

22. Brown University ($3,976,694,000)

Founded in 1764, Brown is a private Ivy League research college in Providence, Rhode Island.

Popular majors at this elite, mid-sized institution include Computer Science, Biology and Economics.

21. New York University ($4,219,313,605)

Chartered in 1831, New York University is a private research institution based in NYC.

Among the most popular majors at this college are Liberal Arts and Humanities, Economics and Business.

20. University of Pittsburgh ($4,289,974,484)

The University of Pittsburgh is a state-related public research college located in Pennsylvania.

Popular majors at this institution, which is home to 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges, include Psychology, Finance and Biology.

19. Dartmouth College ($5,731,322,087)

Dartmouth College is a private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire and the ninth-oldest institution of higher education in the U.S.

Popular majors at this institution which reportedly graduates 95 percent of students, include Economics, Political Science and Government, and Engineering Science.

18. University of Southern California ($5,739,565,000)

Founded in 1880, USC is a highly rated private research college located in Los Angeles.

Popular majors at this institution with an extremely competitive admission rate include Business, Biology and Communications.

17. Vanderbilt University ($6,270,876,534)

Vanderbilt is a private research college based in Nashville, Tennessee and established in 1873.

Popular majors at this university range from Economics, Social Science Research Methods, and Liberal Arts and Humanities.

16. Johns Hopkins University ($6,275,939,000)

Johns Hopkins is a private college based in Baltimore, Maryland, considered to be the very first research university in the U.S.

Popular majors at this university include Public Health, Neuroscience and Neurobiology, and Cellular Biology.

15. Rice University ($6,506,177,000)

William Marsh Rice is a private research college located in the heart of Houston, Texas.

Some of the most popular majors at this university include Information Science, Economics and Mechanical Engineering.

14. Cornell University ($6,974,636,536)

Founded in 1865, Cornell is a private Ivy League research college with its base in Ithaca, New York.

Popular majors at this highly rated large institution of higher education include Biology, Computer Science, and Hospitality and Tourism Management.

13. University of Chicago ($7,244,602,984)

Established in 1890, the University of Chicago is a private research college based in Chicago, Illinois.

Popular majors at this prestigious institution range from Economics, Mathematics and Public Policy Analysis.

12. Washington University in St Louis ($8,130,483,000)

Washington University in St. Louis is a private research college in Greater St. Louis.

Popular majors at the institution, founded in 1853, include Computer Science, Finance and Biology.

11. Northwestern University ($8,244,818,000)

Founded in 1851, Northwestern is an elite private research college located in Evanston, Illinois.

Popular majors at this educational institution with an extremely competitive admission rate include Economics, Psychology and Journalism.

10. Duke University ($8,609,004,000)

Duke University is a private research college in Durham, North Carolina, founded by Methodists and Quakers in 1838.

Popular majors at this elite institution include Computer Science, Economics, and Public Policy Analysis.

9. Emory University ($8,626,248,037)

Established in 1836, Emory University is a private research college based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Among the most popular majors at this elite institution include Business, Nursing and Biology.

8. Columbia University ($10,950,738,000)

Columbia is a private Ivy League research college and the oldest institution of higher education in New York.

Popular majors at this elite institution established in 1754 include Economics, Computer Science, and Political Science and Government.

7. University of Notre Dame ($11,565,964,000)

Founded in 1842, ND is a private research college in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Popular majors at Notre Dame, which reportedly graduates 96 percent of students, include Finance, Economics, and Political Science and Government.

6. University of Pennsylvania ($14,649,761,000)

The University of Pennsylvania is a private Ivy League research college in Philadelphia and is considered to be one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Popular majors to take at this large institution of higher education include Finance, Management Sciences and Information Systems, and Philosophy.

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($17,443,750,000)

Established in 1861, MIT is a private land-grant research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The most popular majors at this elite college include Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics.

4. Princeton University ($25,623,628,250)

Princeton is a private Ivy League research college in Princeton, New Jersey and founded in 1746.

Popular majors at this university with a reported 98 percent graduation rate include Computer Science, Economics and Public Policy Analysis.

3. Stanford University ($27,699,834,000)

Regularly ranked among the world's best universities, Stanford is a private research college based in California.

Popular majors at this elite private university include Computer Science, Engineering and Biology.

2. Yale University ($30,295,003,000)

Yale University is an elite private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut and the third-oldest institution of higher education in the U.S.

Popular majors at this liberal arts college include Economics, Political Science and Government and History.

1. Harvard University ($40,929,700,000)

Established in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, the private Ivy League research college based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

With an acceptance rate of just 5 percent, admissions are extremely competitive at Harvard, where popular majors include Economics, Computer Science, and Political Science and Government.