Mos of these financial institutions actually have high fees that are only charged if your parents are rich. I've been surprised to see how high your income may

Mos of these financial institutions actually have high fees that are only charged if your parents are rich. I've been surprised to see how high your income may be at some of them, and still receive near-free education. Thus the fees aren't really fees, they're fees for rich people who can afford them. And then you may wonder why you'd give a rich person free education by paying it from an endowment that, among other things, pays for the poor people's education, when the rich person can afford it. As for your note on donations, I fully agree. You really, really, don't need to donate to Harvard. But that's mostly a function of alumni networks/events of the university itself, not necessarily people going 'hey I want to donate to a university... ah well, guess I'll choose Harvard then'. So it's not a decision you'll change easily.