Harvard Posts $100 Million Surplus as Endowment Returns 27.1% in Fiscal 2026

Harvard University ended fiscal year 2026 with a $100 million operating surplus on $6.7 billion in revenue, according to its annual financial report released Thursday, Oct. 15. The endowment returned 27.1 percent for the year that closed June 30, the Harvard Gazette reported, and grew to nearly $68 billion, according to The Harvard Crimson.

Chief Financial Officer Ritu Kalra said the surplus amounts to a 1.5 percent operating margin. “That’s only five days of operations,” she told the Gazette.

A surplus with two parts

Kalra said the headline number combines two very different results. The part of the budget Harvard controls directly, covering salaries and facility renewal, finished nearly $80 million in deficit, she said, “and that’s with a hiring freeze and after painful position reductions.” Offsetting it was a $180 million surplus in restricted funds, which are gifts and distributions earmarked for specific purposes. Kalra said that surplus largely reflects timing differences between when the money arrived and when it will be spent.

Executive Vice President Meredith Weenick said schools and units restructured operations and reduced costs during the year. “Without those interventions, we would have ended the year in deficit,” she said.

Why the endowment cannot simply cover costs

Kalra described the endowment as roughly 15,000 separate funds, each given for a particular purpose, which cannot be moved to cover payroll or facilities in another school. Distributions from it fund nearly 40 percent of the operating budget. Harvard deliberately smooths those payouts rather than raising them after strong market years, she said, so that spending does not have to be cut after weak ones.

Research spending and gifts

Harvard spent more than $1.2 billion on research during the year, and about a third of it was paid for by the university itself, Kalra said. She said Harvard is working to bring in more research support from foundations and industry. Weenick pointed to a recently announced $150 million internal investment in research tools and capacity in neuroscience, immunology, quantum science, artificial intelligence, and energy and climate.

Donors committed more than $1.5 billion in gifts received during the year, including more than $640 million for current use, according to Kalra.

Financial aid

The university provided more than $775 million in financial aid in fiscal 2026, Weenick said. That included about $265 million in need-based scholarships for Harvard College students in the first year of an expanded program under which the College is free for families earning $100,000 or less and tuition-free for families earning $200,000 or less.

Endowment tax and capital needs

Starting in fiscal 2027, Harvard is subject to an 8 percent tax on endowment earnings, up from 1.4 percent. Kalra said Harvard projects the tax will cost roughly $300 million a year, depending on returns, and that the endowment distribution for fiscal 2027 was held flat instead of rising in order to pay for it.

Capital spending exceeded $950 million in fiscal 2026, which Weenick said is roughly what it costs simply to maintain Harvard’s buildings. She said the university also has a backlog of deferred maintenance.

Context for Greater Boston

Harvard is one of the largest employers in Cambridge and Allston, and its budget decisions affect local labor talks now under way. Unions representing graduate workers and dining staff have both cited the endowment figure in their contract campaigns; see our reports on the graduate student union’s Oct. 27 strike deadline and the dining workers’ strike authorization. Our earlier piece on the Kendall Square biotech slump covers the wider Cambridge research economy.

Additional details

Kalra credited Harvard Management Company, led by Narv Narvekar, for the investment return. Weenick said the Research Accelerator Challenge has raised more than $100 million for endowed Ph.D. fellowships at the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Harvard’s full financial report is published on the university’s website.

Sources

• Harvard Gazette: ‘Our focus has been on resiliency’ (Oct. 15, 2026)
• The Harvard Crimson: Graduate Student Union Sets Second Strike for October 27 (Oct. 19, 2026)
• The Boston Globe: Harvard dining workers authorize strike as school endowment surges (Oct. 21, 2026)