ANN ARBOR —  The University of Michigan’s endowment has doubled over the past decade and now stands at $7.8 billion, the Ann Arbor school reported.

The amount represents the seventh-largest endowment of any university in the nation.

“It’s a huge year,” Erik Lundberg, the university’s chief investment officer, told AnnArbor.com. “We did better than Harvard, better than Yale, better than Stanford, better than Princeton … in investment return.”

Michigan’s endowment had an investment return of 24.3%, one of the school’s highest-ever returns.

The school’s endowment grew by 18.2%. In the past decade, the fiscal 2011 growth is matched only by fiscal 2007, when the endowment increased from $5.6 billion to $7.1 billion.

Michigan’s endowment was discussed at a Board of Regents meeting Thursday in Flint. There, the regents voted to approve the school’s 2011 financial report.

Over the past decade, Michigan has averaged an investment return of 9.3% per year. The endowment has doubled since 2001, when it stood at $3.6 billion.

The university allows itself to spend up to 4.5% of its endowment each year. That means the university was able to use $266 million from its coffers this time around.

“To the extent that the endowment gets bigger we spend more,” Lundberg said.

Since 1999, the school’s endowment has increased by $5.3 billion.

The endowment hasn’t always grown during that period, however. In fiscal 2006, it fell from $7.6 billion to $6 billion, due to the economic downturn.

In fact, Lundberg said some of this year’s increase is due to “recovery from the financial crisis.”

By way of comparison, Harvard University’s endowment is above $30 billion.

“They started earlier than us,” Lundberg said. “We’re working hard to catch up with them.”