In addition, one cannot raise value with money because value is calculated separate from money. Money does not impart value or raise the standards of anything; money only validates what people already believe, and in many cases, know.
Think of it this way - If you pay $5,000 for a $1,000 run-of-the mill used car, does the value of the car now rise to $5,000? No, it does not. Even if you gave it a new paint job and engine, the value will still hover at $1,000. It might go up a little, but you will lose 90% of the purchase price and the investment. Why? Because the value of the car is not based on the money spent on it; it is based on the fact that it is just a run-of-the-mill car.
Now, take a Ferrari, and spend $650,000 on a car that yesterday had sticker price of $500,0000. There is an extremely good chance that someone will, down the road, pay you $800,00 for the same car, which started out at $500,000. And he will pay this even after you have used it a bit and made no upgrades or anything. Why? Because the Ferrari is seen as valuable, and it is not a run-of-the-mill car.
Colleges are no different. Therefore, giving money to a college that has already been proved to have less value in people’s eyes will not raise its value; the gift will only waste the money, which could have gone to increase some other school’s value. The overall result is the gift expenditure is a net loss to the economy, as no real growth resulted from it.