re: Texas A&M is very well-endowed

An endowment is an aggregation of assets invested by a college or university to. support its educational mission in perpetuity. An institution's endowment actually comprises hundreds or thousands of individual endowments.

Very interesting and endowment and athletics have no direct tie to one another, if so then Harvard would win everything.

Biggest college athletics fundraisers: Texas A&M on top of $1.2 billion list



with college athletics in the midst of a “arms race" to lure prized recruits and improve facilities across their campuses, private donations received by major-college athletic departments topped $1 billion last fiscal year according to a report by the Council for Aid to Education.

It's the fourth time in five years that gifts for college athletics crossed the billion-dollar mark, but the $1.2 billion raised actually dipped slightly from the year before in part because of a drop in the stock market.

The downturn didn't affect Texas A&M, as the Aggies' private donors raised nearly $67 million, the most of any institution that responded to the survey. It's no surprise the Aggies were on top, since Texas A&M donors have contributed more than $350 million in cash and pledges the past three years as the school looks for help in paying for a $450 million renovation of Kyle Field.

Here's a look at the top athletics departments that reported raising the most money in private donations this past fiscal year:

College, amount raised
Texas A&M University, $66,987,139

University of Oregon, $53,698,089

University of Michigan, $51,717,862

University of Texas, $42,234,883

Texas Christian University, $38,319,614

Kansas State University, $34,369,836

Auburn University, $31,739,556

Don't deflect the Aggies lust for success on the athletic field and the boast that they will buy a winning program