Sports teams are a money-maker for D1 (top-tier sports-wise) American universities. Both in an absolute sense, and also in terms of encouraging donations from a

Sports teams are a money-maker for D1 (top-tier sports-wise) American universities. Both in an absolute sense, and also in terms of encouraging donations from alumni. The other things you mentioned are probably not a significant fraction of the costs of university. Rather, I'd guess that the main costs are salaries and building. Universities, especially private ones, are notorious for turning over relatively young buildings to build newer and shinier ones. I don't donate to my alma mater [1] precisely because I suspect that the vast majority of any donation will be spent on constructing new buildings that are not needed to satisfy the core educational mission that universities ought to embrace. I'd honestly rather donate it to the nearest state school. [1]: https://campusnext.wustl.edu/items/landscape-architectural-plans/ https://campusnext.wustl.edu/items/landscape-architectural-p...