After a 26 percent decline in its endowment last fiscal year, Cornell has a lot of lost ground to recover. In the first two months of the current fiscal year, the University has been making substantial strides to even out its balance sheet, announcing a 6.2 percent rise in its overall investment performance.

Since reporting a 27 percent loss during the second half of 2008, the endowment rose 2 percent from January through June.

The endowment makes up $4 billion in the University’s $5.1 billion total investment at the end of the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. While the improvement in investment performance has brought more assets to the University, Cornell has taken substantial funds from the endowment in order to pay for operational costs.

Despite this recent increase in the value of Cornell’s investment portfolio, administrators are still concerned about the health of the University’s endowment.

Joanne DeStefano, vice president for finance and CFO of the University, explained last week that even though the endowment is regaining its strength, the budget cuts being made by University administrators and faculty across the campus will remain in place.

“As the endowment recovers, it’s unlikely that the budget cuts will be reversed,” DeStefano said. “It’s more likely that any additional funds will be used to invest in strategic core academic programs.”

While the University has decided to cut back on their spending from the endowment by 15 percent for the current fiscal year, the University remains committed to providing students with financial aid, as shown by its decision to take out $35 million from the endowment to fund its new aid initiative.

Cornell’s operating budget for the current fiscal year is $2.9 billion, with 9 to 10 percent of the budget coming from the endowment payout.