It s true UPenn 4 25 billion Fiscal Year 2005 Harvard 2 8 billion FY2005 And so on You see the endowment comes largely from donations much of which comes from alumni Harvard Princeton Yale tend to really clean up because they are small and have the most name recognition and at the same time the wealthiest alumni as well as attracting the biggest outside donors The budget on the other hand comes largely from things like tuition investment income such as real estate and a smaller portion from endowment proceeds this portion is larger at schools with outsize endowments like Princeton Penn is larger in terms of number of students than any Ivy other than Cornell which is lower on the totem pole than Penn It has a large hospital system attached although I think this was spun off in administration a few years ago owns a big chunk of Philadelphia and is the largest private employer in Pennsylvania It s budget therefore is biggest in the Ivy League