Universities are legally obligated to spend endowment money according to the terms set by the funders (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/endowment.asp https:

Universities are legally obligated to spend endowment money according to the terms set by the funders (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/endowment.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/endowment.asp). Unrestricted endowment is typically a tiny percentage of most university endowments. Shortfalls of hundreds of millions of dollars a year will run down even large endowments to near zero in 10-15 years.