<p>What is endowment $$ usually spent on in colleges? Probably multiple things? A school with a higher endowment than another isn't necessarily a better institution, right? Should the endowment amount even factor into the final decision of a school at all?</p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>Usually the endowment giver specifies to the college what they want it to be spent on. My school got a 15 million dollar donation that was specifically for the chapel.</p>
<p>Endowment money does go to a lot of different stuff. But, for example, how endowment money has directly affected me: firstly, I live in a cooperative living house owned by the university. Thanks to my school’s endowment, students living in my house can apply for scholarships that only residents of our house are eligible for. Yes, endowment money can be used for improvements on buildings and infrastructure, but I’ve received multiple scholarships from endowment. Where does this money come from? Alumni. A lot of students on campus are offered jobs by the Endowment Association to call alumni and ask them for donations, especially since my university is currently under a major fundraising campaign. All of the named scholarships on campus are from the Endowment Association, and most of the stuff that has a name tacked on to it is probably from an alumni or former chancellor/famous person who really liked your school. It’s true that a school with higher endowment isn’t necessarily better, but there are benefits to students as I named above, mostly scholarships and student resources. I don’t think you should base your college decision on how much money a school has, though. (I guess there’s an extreme where if a potential school just doesn’t have money, but I don’t think many people are going to come across that)</p>