Huge Endowments: what are they for?

<p>As far as the subsidy argument, I was looking at the Harvard Fact Book, and out of their $3B budget, 21% of income was from students (net of scholarships), and 26% of expenses were for instruction.</p>

<p>It looks like students are pretty much paying for what they are getting without huge subsidies, especially if they are paying list price.</p>