Princeton University posted a 24.7 percent increase in its endowment in the last fiscal year, topping Harvard University’s rate of growth but trailing Yale’s, which led the nation this year, a Princeton spokesperson said Thursday.

The university’s endowment grew to $15.8 billion in the year ending June 30, up from $13 billion the year before, the Princeton spokeswoman said. Yale announced last month that its endowment grew by 28 percent in the last year, from $18 billion to $22.5 billion. In August, Harvard announced a 23 percent return on its endowment, now valued at $34.9 billion — the biggest university endowment in the country.

Princeton’s endowment growth was first reported in an article in Thursday’s edition of The Daily Princetonian. Andrew Golden SOM ’89, the president of the Princeton University Investment Company, told the newspaper that the university had an “amazing year” in terms of its investments’ performance.

“We’ve done very well versus market benchmarks,” Golden told the newspaper. Golden is a protege of Yale investments czar David Swensen, for whom he worked for five years while in the Yale Investments Office earlier in his career.

Yale’s 28 percent return is expected to be the highest of any major university in the nation this year. Princeton’s endowment remains the fifth largest in the country, behind those of Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the University of Texas system.

-Thomas Kaplan