Endowments are used to fund scholarships for students from middle-class and lower backgrounds. The degree is only costly to the extent that your parents are to

Endowments are used to fund scholarships for students from middle-class and lower backgrounds. The degree is only costly to the extent that your parents are to well-off or your school's endowment is too small. (This is a serious problem if your parents are well-off but stingy, or if you get into an elite-ish but not actually top-tier college). Endowments, like universities, are meant to be perpetual, so the amount of access they can provide is limited by the return on capital. Some people would perhaps like to see the principal spent down, which could provide dramatically more access in the short term, but then the money would be gone.