The stock market has seen a rebound in the past six months, and Loyola’s endowment, which is largely held in stocks, is benefiting right beside it.

Loyola’s endowment grew to $234 million at the end of July, up about 20 percent from the $194 million in February, said Doug Dougherty, the university’s endowment portfolio manager. 

“The quarter ending June 30, 2009 was a very good quarter,” Dougherty said in an e-mail. “The median endowment fund in JP Morgan’s data base was up 10.7 percent for the quarter.”

Dougherty said out of the 153 foundation and endowment plans for which JP Morgan compiles information, Loyola’s endowment was in the top 5 percent of all those 153 at the end of that quarter.

“These returns are most unusual and certainly cannot be expected to continue,” he said.

“Still, the 10 percent cut in Loyola’s operating budget will still happen this fiscal year,” said Jay Calamia, vice president for the Office of Finance and Administration.

The university decided to make these cuts after the endowment rapidly lost nearly half its value from $346 in July 2007 to $194 in February 2009. 

In April, Calamia said the university would see difficult years ahead unless the financial market begun a dramatic recovery.

The nation hasn’t reached that point yet, he said.

“It’s far from being fully recovered. We will need several years to get out of this. There are just so many obstacles ahead.”

In March, the Board of Trustees hired Consultant Services Group, an outside financial organization, to revise Loyola’s policy statement of objectives and policies that guide investment decisions, the “single most important document for our endowment,” Dougherty said.

This isn’t a drastic step for the board, he said. It’s not uncommon for Loyola to change consultants or revise their investment policies.

The final draft has not gone to the board yet, he said. 

“The endowment returns are definitely good news, but the university has no notions to let its guard down,” Calamia said.

“Everyone has breathed a sigh of relief, for now as the market has been up,” he said in an e-mail to the Maroon. “However, the outlook is still unpredictable. We’re not out of this financial crisis yet.”

Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at [email protected]