WashU finished the 2025 fiscal year (FY) with a $112 million budget surplus and a 37.3% increase in the endowment, bringing the total endowment to $17.7 billion, according to an email to faculty and staff from Chancellor Andrew D. Martin. 

The budget surplus, which accounts for 2.1% of WashU’s annual budget, exceeds WashU’s projection of a $7.4 million deficit in FY 2026. It falls short of FY 2025, when WashU finished with a $300 million surplus, though that surplus was largely because a gift of $335 million, though distributed over several years, was recorded in FY 2025.

Martin credited the budget increase to the clinical performance at the Medical Campus, as well as “fiscal discipline” across the University. This included layoffs and increased responsibilities for faculty and staff. 

“I am enormously grateful for the sacrifices you have made,” Martin wrote in the email. 

While Martin did not state a reason for the endowment increase in his email, WashU reported a 3,000% return on its investment in SpaceX when the company went public earlier this year. According to Martin, this year’s endowment growth was “likely to be among the very best in the country.”

The University will share more details in the coming months about how the endowment increase will be used, according to the email. Martin wrote that many funds within the endowment have already been designated for specific purposes, like endowed professorships or financial aid. 

“We have both a legal and ethical obligation to honor those commitments, while stewarding these resources for future WashU faculty and students,” Martin wrote. 

In the 2025 report by WashU’s Investment Management Company, WashU listed 63% of endowed funds as donor restricted, leaving 37% without donor restrictions. 

Despite the successes, Martin said the University should continue to be fiscally disciplined. He wrote that “significant headwinds” remain, including threats to federal research funding, the need to balance the budget across all Danforth schools, and uncertainty about Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates.

Looking forward to FY 2027, Martin wrote that the WashU board of trustees has approved a $5.48 billion budget, and project to finish the year with a 1% surplus. He said WashU projects continued budget surpluses at the medical school and continued “challenges” on the Danforth Campus.