NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) – Yale’s endowment earned a 28 percent return in the fiscal year ending June 30, bringing its value to $22.5 billion, the university’s investments office announced Wednesday.

The endowment’s value at the end of the prior fiscal year, in which it earned a 22.9 percent return, was $18 billion.

The endowment is the largest source of support for Yale’s budget and its annual contribution to the operating budget has increased nearly fourfold in the past 10 years. Projected spending from the endowment in the university’s 2007-8 fiscal year is $843 million, or 37 percent of the university’s net revenues.

Yale’s endowment has returned an annualized 17.8 percent return over the past decade, placing the university’s investment performance in the top rank of institutional funds, Yale officials said. During that 10-year period, the endowment has grown from $5.8 billion to $22.5 billion.

AP-ES-09-26-07 1639EDT