Quote Originally Posted by bulldog10jw View Post
What the IL schools, at least Y,H,& P get out of their endowments is bragging rights. Something along the lines of "mine is bigger than yours." Spending any of that money on something frivolous, for example, upgrading sports facilities, etc., might affect where they stand in the ongoing contest of who has the biggest one.
Except that endowments aren't fungible across programs. Yale is a not just a college but a huge corporation, with a payroll of over $1.9 billion across 13 distinct schools. Endowment funds are often pegged against one of these programs, so it's not like a gift to the SOM can be redirected to football. They key is more gifts to athletics, not just a "pay to the order of" Yale.