Real Estate is a good investment for university endowments for a few reasons: 1 - They can hold onto it for a very long time. (Real Estate is best seen as a v

Real Estate is a good investment for university endowments for a few reasons: 1 - They can hold onto it for a very long time. (Real Estate is best seen as a very long term investment) 2 - It can generate rental revenue in tough times, when their financial needs are higher. 3 - It's an asset tied to one of their future liabilities. Growing universities need to buy land, so investing in land effectively hedges some of that risk. Now your point of their being non-profit - that's much bigger. I think most universities (and sport leagues, and many others) could be considered for-profit based on much of their behavior.