Fiscal Year 2020
Brown University Financial Report

Annual Financial Report 2020

Like most institutions of higher education, Brown University faced enormous financial and operational challenges in Fiscal Year 2020 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet despite the trying circumstances, Brown remains financially strong and fully committed to pursuing its ambitious plans for excellence.

The annual financial report offers an overview of the University’s financial statements, success in fundraising and investment performance. Covering Fiscal Year 2020, this year’s report highlights the ways in which the financial markets and growth of the economy created opportunities for excellent financial results for Brown, even in the midst of an unprecedented global health crisis.

In addition to reporting on Brown’s financial health, the report provides an opportunity to share impact in key areas of the University’s strategic plan, Building on Distinction: A New Plan for Brown. The theme for this year’s report is the University’s commitment to creating peaceful, just and prosperous societies as our nation and world grapple with the complex and urgent challenges of economic inequality, systemic racism, political polarization and climate instability.

This report demonstrates the ways in which targeted investments continue to position Brown to achieve an ever higher level of academic and operational excellence.

Brown by the Numbers... University Summary

(Fiscal years ended June 30)
FINANCIAL (dollars in millions) Fiscal Year 2020 Fiscal Year 2019
Principal revenue sources
Tuition and fees (net) $399 $373
Grants and contracts $209 $201
Endowment return appropriated $160 $154
Contributions $236 $292
Total investment return $495 $464
 
Principal purpose of expenditures
Instruction and departmental research $363 $347
Academic and student support $265 $270
 
Financial balance sheet
Total assets $6,894 $6,209
Total liabilities $1,415 $1,136
Net assets $5,479 $5,073
 
Fundraising
New gifts and pledges $321 $421
Cash $251 $250
 
STUDENTS Fiscal Year 2020 Fiscal Year 2019
Enrollment
Undergraduate students 7,160 7,043
Graduate students 2,576 2,629
Medical students 597 585
 
Degrees conferred
Bachelor’s degrees 1,743 1,697
Master’s degrees 733 846
Doctor of Philosophy 217 225
Doctor of Medicine 137 128
 
Annual tuition and required fees
Undergraduate $58,404 $55,556
Graduate $58,180 $55,332
Medical $64,148 $62,254
 
FACULTY Fiscal Year 2020 Fiscal Year 2019
Campus-based faculty (all ranks)* 786 772
Medical School faculty 599 614

*Campus-based faculty head counts include professor, associate and assistant professor, and lecturer and senior lecturer.

 

 

About the Art: Banner images throughout this report depict details of “Slavery Memorial,” created by pre-eminent sculptor and National Medal of Arts recipient Martin Puryear. Installed on Brown’s Quiet Green in 2014, the granite, ductile cast iron and stainless steel piece recognizes the University’s connection to the transatlantic slave trade and the work of Africans and African Americans, enslaved and free, who helped build our University, Rhode Island and the nation. Creating a permanent memorial to recognize the University’s and the state’s ties to the slave trade was one among several recommendations made by a Slavery and Justice Committee formed under the direction of then-University President Ruth Simmons in 2003.