It’s been a stressful year for bottom lines, especially at research universities. But there is good news out of our financial office: we’ve been able to defy some of the challenges bedeviling other institutions. Thanks to diversified revenue flows, steady yet nimble leadership, and external validation, this year we increased our endowment, contained costs, moved forward with multiple construction projects, and even saw our bond rating elevated.

We’re neither overly endowment- nor tuition-dependent. We’ve been financially proactive since the 2008 economic slowdown and have made sure we’re always firing on multiple cylinders. Tuition and fees represent approximately half our total revenues, and even that is overstated as a third is derived from our graduate and professional schools, which adhere to a different set of financial dynamics.

As for sequestration, there’s no doubt we’ve felt it, too. Our total research dollars dipped from $362.6 million last year to $339.3 million this year. But this year we established a federal relations team in Washington, DC, to develop new funding contacts. President Brown has also championed and fostered multidisciplinary research on both campuses, which has yielded not only rich results, but additional avenues of research revenue.

Here are some other FY2013 fiscal highlights:

• The endowment had a market value of $1.403 billion in FY2013 and a return of 11.5 percent.*
• Operating revenues for the year experienced a modest increase of 1.22 percent to $1.689 billion.
• The University kept the rise in undergraduate tuition low at 3.8 percent.
• Total graduate and undergraduate University aid from all sources was $296 million, with $197 million going to undergraduate financial aid.
• Sale of the Hotel Commonwealth injected a $77 million bump into our endowment, which will add $2.4 million of income into FY2014.

*Performance as of June 30, 2013, updated for private marks received as of September 10, 2013.

• $117M 2013 was a banner year for cash giving. We topped last year’s figure by a whopping $30.7 million, for an all-time record of $117 million.
• 81 In 2013, the University hired 42 new faculty members on the Charles River Campus, including 15 for newly created positions. We hired 39 new faculty on the Medical Campus.
• $296M Total financial aid given out in FY2013 was $296 million, with $197 million going to undergraduate financial aid.

• $339.3M Our research awards this year totaled $339.3 million, which supported innovative projects such as unlocking the causes of cancer in black women, reaching autistic children, and developing a bionic pancreas.
• $70M We undertook some $70 million in construction projects this year, led by the 5-story, 93,000-square-foot annex to the Law Tower, the 110,000-square-foot New Balance Field, and $12.8 million for School of Management renovations.
• $532.5M Pledged as of June 30, 2013, in our $1 billion comprehensive fundraising campaign.