Texas A&M University's endowment totals approximately $4.3 billion; 11th in the nation and third among public
universities. The University receives income from an endowment known as the Permanent University Fund. The PUF principal in the fall 2000 was approximately $10 billion,
second only to Harvard's endowment. The PUF serves 15 Texas universities in the
Texas A&M University System and the
University of Texas System. Other Texas public universities outside these two systems, notably University of Houston and Texas Tech University, are prohibited by law from sharing in the income from this endowment. At
one time, the PUF was the chief source of income for Texas A&M, today its revenues account for less than 10 percent of the
university's annual budget. This has challenged the university to increase sponsored research and private donations.