State universities like UNM are raising buckets of money. Too bad students aren’t reaping the benefits

State universities are riding a surge in donations and investment returns that have outpaced the growth reported by most of the wealthiest private schools in the nation. If only their students were enjoying the fruits of those fundraising efforts. Education experts say the apparent disconnect stems from repeated rounds of state cuts to higher ed budgets that have forced university administrators to use fundraising and endowment returns to offset the recent financial pinch. As such, their endowments since 2015 have ballooned at nearly double the average rate — 12.9 percent versus 6.7 percent — reported by dozens of the most competitive private schools in America.