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demonfish t1_jch4pil wrote

Non murican here. Could you explain what endowment means?

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FloatingByWater t1_jch5lgn wrote

Universities essentially have trust funds - it's the money that alumni and others have given over the years to the university. The university then invests that money to grow but also uses it to finance things like financial aid.

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jelhmb48 t1_jckcard wrote

Why do American alumni give so much money to the university they studied at? Especially considering the sky high tuition most paid already to that uni, it seems strange to me people willingly donate even more money to that institution. Is it a prestige thing?

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FloatingByWater t1_jckm0i8 wrote

I’m probably not the best to ask, as I’ve only donated small amounts to where I went to university. For me, it‘s mostly emotional, in that I have really good memories of both my undergrad and graduate universities. I’ve mostly chosen to do so when there’s a particular program/initiative that I care about raising funds.

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MasterDio64 OP t1_jch5zst wrote

Sure! It’s basically an estimate of all the assets that a university has. The key thing to note is that not all of these assets can be used the way these universities want because donors can place restrictions on how their cash is to be spent.

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