The return of college endowments from the depths of the market earlier this decade continued to gain momentum. Endowments returned an average of 10.7 percent in the 2006 fiscal year, up from the previous year's return of 9.3 percent. The largest endowments earned the best returns, allowing the wealthiest of colleges to put even more distance between themselves and the rest of the pack. Those endowments worth more than $1-billion had an average annual return of 15.2 percent in the 2006 fiscal year. For endowments worth less than $25-million, the average investment return was only about half as good, 7.8 percent. They are diversifying more than ever and putting more money than ever into "alternative investments," assets other than stocks and fixed income.