What is wrong with this picture?

[Cannon Shell]

http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/news...slowdown.72416

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

Why are cuts necessary to any of the Universities activities when Vanderbilt is sitting on close to $3 billion dollars? Why does the endowment fund only 5% of the Universities annual operations? Not to pick on Vandy because there are a lot of other schools that have more money than them that hoard it but what exactly is the purpose of an endowment if not to fund education and other activities at the university?