Endowments at local colleges have taken a hit as each scrambles for more money during a down economy.

James J. Floyd, associate vice president of investments at Claremont McKenna College, said endowments at each of the Claremont Colleges were in decline on June 30, when the endowment figure is determined.

"Everybody was down. The markets have rebounded a little bit since then," Floyd said.

Despite the positive news, CMC trustees are trying to determine what lessons they can learn from last year, Floyd said.

"What we took was to look at our asset allocation and identify ways to mitigate the volatility going forward," Floyd said.

CMC officials learned to "not panic," Floyd said.

"We're still trying to be cautious in our view and not get ahead of ourselves ... we just try to be as conservative in our approach here as we can."

He declined to talk about layoffs or program changes because of the poor endowment showing.

"We had a little bit of early retirement and such," Floyd said. "We did our best to maintain the student experience and faculty experience, we try to keep those untouched."

The college also increased its enrollment by 3.9 percent, "a reasonable level from last year," Floyd said.

Claremont McKenna College spokeswoman Dorothy Buchanan said college officials, after examination, adjusted their financial plans because of last year's "challenging economic climate."

"Preserving CMC's robust academic experience for our students and maintaining our need-based financial aid program were the College's first priorities," Buchanan said.

"After an extensive analysis of the budgetary challenges, the College took steps to reduce its operating budget, but no academic programs were eliminated. The College did, however, undergo voluntary and involuntary staff reductions, and, with the exception of the Kravis Center, new facilities projects have been postponed. CMC's financial state continues to be stable and in some areas, steadily improving."

Students gave different opinions what the endowment numbers meant.

Pomona College senior Jaleesa Parks, 21, said she had seen work study get cut, forcing students to work less hours and earn less pay.

"And the school department budget got cut," Parks added.

But Scripps College junior May Chow said she has not been impacted by the declining endowment.

"We haven't been affected as much," Chow said. "The colleges are pretty good at rationing their money."

Pomona College freshman Ivette Guadarrama said the impact has reached her.

"I might have gotten a bigger financial aid package," Guadarrama said. "As students, we believe the school has a lot of money."

But when older students tell Guadarrama about the impact of the endowment on programs, she admits she has not seen it.

"Just how everything used to be bigger, you could do more things," Guadarrama said, other people have told her.

Karen Sisson, Pomona College vice president and treasurer, said her institution had prepared well for the downturn.

Sisson said although her college had a 25 percent decline in value of the endowment, the institution had prepared for 30 percent.

"From our perspective, things look a little better now," Sisson said with a laugh. "We did some modest cutting, mostly stuff around the edges. We didn't touch are core functions. Like most of peers in Claremont, we're still proceeding, cautiously going forward."

Campus President David Oxtoby has asked the college to look at budget reductions or revenue enhancers, Sisson said.

Pomona College managed to cut down $3 million from its operating budget expenses and put the remainder into reserves, Sisson said.

"When the economy experienced such an unprecedented turn of events, it was kind of scary. Only a year ago, the world was turning on end," Sisson said.

The college then went into an "aggressive education campaign" with alumni, parents and campus faculty where informational sessions were held on the budget and endowment, Sisson said.

Sisson said there was no layoffs but they had 21 people participate in a voluntary early retirement program.

"We still have a freeze on new hiring," Sisson said. "Even if it's a replacement ... we're setting the hurdle pretty high."

The college has saved about $650,000 from the early retirement program, Sisson said.

"I think we feel good about the fact we didn't have to do layoffs," Sisson said. "I feel good about the fact the community was so engaged in the process."

Pitzer College, according to a news release, had no faculty or staff layoffs with modest salary increases for faculty at .75 of 1 percent and staff at 1 percent. . . .

At Claremont McKenna College, the endowment was $400 million in 2009. The figure was $528 million in 2008 and the amount rose from $474 million in 2007. [CJ: That's a decrease of about 25 percent between 2008 and 2009.]

Harvey Mudd College had an endowment of $249 million in 2008. Figures for 2009 were not available. The number was $261 million in 2007, an increase from $230 million in 2006.

Pitzer College had an endowment of $77.4 million in 2009. The figure was down from the $100.1 million in 2008. The number was $106.3 million in 2007.

At Scripps College, endowment totalled $215.1 million, including unrestricted, temporarily restricted and permanently restricted funds. The number was down from the $276 million in 2008. The figure was $282.7 million in 2007.

Cal Poly Pomona had an endowment of about $27.6 million in 2009. The figure was down from $33.5 million in 2008 and that was a decline from $35.1 million in 2007.

The University of La Verne's endowment at the end of September was at $29.4 million. Its market value was at $24.3 million at the end of 2008. At the end of 2007, it was $33.7 million.