Can someone explain to me how endowments work like I'm five?

How do schools have multi-million or billion dollar endowments and students are still on financial aid?

Where does the money actually go?

#edutwitter #econtwitter #soctwitter

Alright, some kind folx have already responded - so what I'm gathering atm is that super rich people donate to what they want and then no one can cut into the money because the rich people restrict what the money can be spent on...
right?

I would love to know what percentage of endowments go towards funding students' education though.... like I'm seeing new buildings, but where is the $$$$??

Another education question, are students paying full tuition right now but are only online?

Who is paying full tuition right now but is not on campus?

Nah this is wild @saragoldrickrab https://twitter.com/saragoldrickrab/status/1302401175745179654?s=20

From my wonderful friend @Victoria_J_Lee and former employer @urbaninstitute @chingos https://twitter.com/Victoria_J_Lee/status/1302634232737660929?s=20

Thank you @rkelchen for this thread and @polumechanos for being awesome and having the same question I had basically four months ago. Great minds think alike! https://twitter.com/rkelchen/status/1248224585528590339?s=20