@SeattleTW, I give USC credit for trying, but even with all that, the endowments of Northwestern, Emory, and ND are 2-3 times bigger than USC’s while Rice has one of the biggest endowments on a per student basis around. These are all smaller schools as well, so on a per capita basis, they’re even higher above USC (USC does have about the same amount of money as Vandy and more than Georgetown, however, though, again, these are smaller schools). UMich’s endowment is also more than double USC’s. It’s a bigger school, but not more than double the size, so on a per student basis (and also when you add in the state subsidies), they also have more to spend per student.
And for all that, USC has climbed from the 24th biggest endowment in 1993 to the 21st biggest in 2013.
That’s why climbing up above 20 is so difficult; you’re not competing against relatively poorer schools any more but many with some major financial firepower.
The only schools that have been able to break in to the top 20 so far without a relatively large endowment have been JHU and Georgetown.