Since the beginning of the summer and the start of the global economic collapse, Yale University’s endowment has nosedived, losing roughly 25 percent of its total worth, or $5.9 billion, in only six months.

In an open letter to the community, University President Richard Levin confirmed the drop, but assured distraught Yalies that, despite the economic downturn, student financial aid would not take a hit. Key areas that would be affected, however, included current capital projects and scheduled annual raises for non-faculty employees.

The Yale Daily News reports:

From the start of the fiscal year to Oct. 31, Yale’s marketable securities lost 13.4 percent of their value. But Levin noted in the letter that those losses grew in November and December, adding that it is difficult to know exactly how much the University has lost in investments that “are not traded on a daily basis and are difficult to value with precision.”

While a $5.9 billion loss is nothing to scoff at, keep this in mind: Harvard’s endowment fell by 22 percent, which equates to nearly $8 billion, within the same period.

And so, it appears no Ivy League school will be spared.

Expect Princeton and the other Ivies to report similar drops--or to continue the one-upsmanship by raising the stakes.