"A new survey from the Commonfund Institute on the investment performance of 235 education endowments found that the funds earned an average return of minus-24.1 percent in the six months ending December 31, 2008," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. "A report on the findings includes results from 118 private colleges, 67 public colleges, and 50 independent schools. The institutions of higher education fared only marginally better than the schools, with the private colleges reporting a return of minus-23.7 percent and the public colleges a return of minus-23.6 percent. The average return for schools in the survey was minus-25.1 percent. The data were gathered in an online survey in January and February."