Colleges see slow rebound in endowments

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana college endowments are slowly rebounding from the recession, but the recovery isn't coming fast enough for budget-strapped schools under pressure to limit tuition increases and distribute financial aid.

The National Association of College and University Business Officers says endowments at Indiana University and Purdue University have risen above pre-recession levels. Purdue's climbed 15 percent, to $2 billion, and IU's inched up 2 percent, to $1.6 billion.

But the Indianapolis Business Journal reports performance varies widely across the state. Fourteen of 20 Indiana endowments the newspaper examined were still below where they were three years earlier, and 15 grew more slowly than the state's average.

U.S. college endowments nationally were down nearly 5 percent from 2008 levels at the end of the 2011 fiscal year.