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General Pool Description & Investment Objectives

What is the General Pool? 

The General Pool represents the University's cash and reserves, both restricted and unrestricted, including, but not limited to, operating funds, auxiliary funds, service operations funds, self-insurance funds, debt services funds, and plant funds.  There are thousands of unique operating units within the General Pool.  General Pool balances provide a source of self-liquidity for our external debt and help support our strong credit rating.

Investment Objectives

The General Pool shall be managed in a way that both recognizes and balances the underlying needs of the pool, including, but not limited to, accommodation of University cash flow cyclicality, satisfaction of various ongoing liquidity needs, maximization of risk-adjusted investment returns, diversification and preservation of capital.

Investments in the General Pool are structured to improve liquidity risk management, strengthen the ability to withstand periods of market volatility, and to optimize risk-adjusted investment returns. 

The Office of the Treasurer also has procedures to monitor the ongoing risk exposure of the General Pool; giving the Treasurer the ability to take steps to reduce risk exposure to tolerable levels if risk begins to exceed expectations.  The Office of the Treasurer will maintain appropriate reserves within the General Pool to adequately manage through periods of market volatility.  The Office of the Treasurer will regularly monitor and forecast the University's cash flows.  Finally, the Office of the Treasurer has contingency plans for unanticipated market / liquidity events.

Reviewed 2019-12-24