re: Endowment?

I wonder what the percentage of LSU alum vs. TAMU alums that move out of state as well as income levels of those who stay home vs those who leave the state. At the end of the day, it's hard to maintain a connection, an emotional bond of sorts, with LSU when I left the state. It was strong when I first left, even keeping my season tickets for a few years. But as years go by, I have limited entertainment dollars and time to travel and choose to spend that money on other endeavors than going back for an LSU game 2-3x per fall.

At the end of the day, I got my degree from LSU, but I paid for it. I don't necessarily continue to reap rewards based on where I received my degree. I don't network with fellow alumni for employment, promotional, or business opportunities. I would think TAMU has a broader alumni base that might lend itself to increased networking for these purposes. Meanwhile, the State of Louisiana has just continued to whittle or blatantly hack away at LSU's budget and resources. This only serves to reduce the talent LSU can attract and it just unfolds from there generationally.

LSU almuni have some of the lowest % given back of any major university. As a whole, we don't give back at similar rates compared to LSU's peers.

LINK

Still wrong. Their endowment is $1.8 billion.

LINK

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Why does TAM have such a huge endowment

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The same reason that UT does--explanation below. Someone in Texas had the foresight to plan ahead.

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UT gained access to its oil riches more than 140 years ago, though no one knew at the time. In 1876, when Texas ratified the sixth and current version of its Constitution, the authors ordered the state to create a “university of the first class.” Over the next few years, the state set aside 2.1 million acres in West Texas to help fund an endowment for the new school.

At the time, the land — which covers an area larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined — seemed like little more than useless brushland that could barely support cattle grazing.

But after oil was discovered in Texas in 1901, UT System leaders began to suspect there was oil under their West Texas ground. In 1923, a wildcatter named Frank Pickrell was the first to strike at a well called Santa Rita No. 1, kicking off a rush that hasn’t stopped since.

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Article the discusses history of Texas endowment.

Later says that TAM received about half the payout from the endowment that UT got.

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is it possible for LSU to close the colossal gap

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No. It's just too late unless the university patents an invention that turns trash into fuel (a la Back to the Future 3).

A&M started out as the Ag school for UT. It split around 1876 and since 1948 is the founding member of the Texas A&M University System. The Texas A&M system endowment is one of the 10 biggest($8+bil) in the nation. Texas A&M's student body is the largest in Texas and the largest in the United States.Texas A&M's designation as a land, sea, and space grant institution–the only university in Texas to hold all three designations–reflects a range of research with ongoing projects funded by organizations such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research. In 2001, Texas A&M was inducted as a member of the Association of American Universities. The alumni numbers —over 450,000 strong.

The first public institution of higher education in Texas, the school opened on October 4, 1876, as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas under the provisions of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts. Originally, the college taught no classes in agriculture, instead concentrating on classical studies, languages, literature, and applied mathematics. After four years, students could attain degrees in scientific agriculture, civil and mechanical engineering, and language and literature.[13] Under the leadership of President James Earl Rudder in the 1960s, A.M.C. desegregated, became coeducational, and dropped the requirement for participation in the Corps of Cadets. To reflect the institution's expanded roles and academic offerings, the Texas Legislature renamed the school to Texas A&M University in 1963. The letters "A&M", originally A.M.C. short for "Agricultural and Mechanical College", are retained as a link to the university's tradition.

The main campus is one of the largest in the United States, spanning 5,200 acres and is home to the George Bush Presidential Library. About one-fifth of the student body lives on campus. Texas A&M has over 1,000 officially recognized student organizations.

As a Senior Military College, Texas A&M is one of six American public universities with a full-time, volunteer Corps of Cadets who study alongside civilian undergraduate students.

Morrill Act auctioned land grants of public lands to establish endowments for colleges where the "leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and mechanical arts... to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life". In 1871, the Texas Legislature used these funds to establish the state's first public institution of higher education, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, then known as Texas A.M.C. Brazos County donated 2,416 acres near Bryan, Texas, for the school's campus.

Though originally envisioned and annotated in the Texas Constitution as a branch of the University of Texas, Texas A.M.C. had a separate Board of Directors from the University of Texas from the first day of classes and was never enveloped into the University of Texas System.[15]

In the late 1880s, many Texas residents saw no need for two colleges in Texas and clamored for an end of Texas A.M.C. In 1891, Texas A.M.C. was saved from potential closure by its new president Lawrence Sullivan Ross, former governor of Texas, and well-respected Confederate Brigadier General. Ross made many improvements to the school and enrollment doubled to 467 cadets as parents sent their sons to Texas A.M.C. "to learn to be like Ross".[20] During his tenure, many enduring Aggie traditions were born, including the creation of the first Aggie Ring.[20] After his death in 1898, a statue was erected in front of what is now Academic Plaza to honor Ross and his achievements in the history of the school.[20] In 2017, the status of this statue was in doubt after other schools removed statues of former Confederate officers. In contrast, the Texas A&M Chancellor and President announced the Sul Ross statue would remain as Ross's statue's place of honor was not based upon his service in the Confederate Army. 1918, 49% of all graduates of the college were in military service, more than any other school. In early September 1918, the entire senior class enlisted, with plans to send the younger students at staggered dates throughout the next year. At the start of World War II, Texas A&M was selected as one of six engineering colleges to participate in the Electronics Training Program, a ten-month activity of 12-hour study days to train Navy personnel who were urgently needed to maintain the then-new, highly complex electronic equipment such as radar. These colleges provided the Primary School, wherein the key topics of the first two years of a college electrical engineering curriculum were condensed into three months. Texas A&M became one of the first four universities given the designation sea-grant for its achievements in oceanography and marine resources development in 1971. In 1989, the university earned the title space-grant by NASA, to recognize its commitment to space research and participation in the Texas Space Grant Consortium.

The Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF) was created with a $2,000,000 appropriation by the Texas Legislature in 1854 expressly for the benefit of the public schools of Texas. The Constitution of 1876 stipulated that certain lands and all proceeds from the sale of these lands should also constitute the PSF. Additional acts later gave more public domain land and rights to the PSF.

In 1953, the U.S. Congress passed the Submerged Lands Act that relinquished to coastal states all rights of the U.S. navigable waters within state boundaries. If the state, by law, had set a larger boundary prior to or at the time of admission to the Union, or if the boundary had been approved by Congress, then the larger boundary applied.

Texas proved its submerged lands property rights to three leagues into the Gulf of Mexico by citing historic laws and treaties dating back to 1836. All lands lying within that limit belong to the PSF. The proceeds from the sale and the mineral-related rental of these lands, including bonuses, delay rentals, and royalty payments, become the corpus of the Fund.

Lots of oil and timber on the PSF property.
They have sold off a good bit over the past 80 years and set up a large portfolio estimated at $40 to $50 billion. UT and A&M share this fund. Plus A&M has it's own endowment of $8+ billion. Lots of wealthy alumni add $50 to $75 million each year.

The short answer is - LSU will never catch up!

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The University of Texas at Austin (UT, UT Austin, or Texas)[10][11] is a public research university and the flagship institution of the University of Texas System.[12] Founded in 1881, its campus is located in Austin, Texas, United States, approximately one mile (1.6 km) from the Texas State Capitol.

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A&M started out as the Ag school for UT. It split around 1876

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