From what I've heard and seen of this man: He hires people who are fantastically smart -- literally best I've ever met in many cases. He pays them astronomically -- not just in finance, but also in his medical research thing, and he is committed to giving them the resources necessary to succeed. He thinks somewhat unconventionally -- that academia and business are too slow, and that a small number of super-talented people can be very very successful.

He's not known for blowing money ostentatiously -- never heard of his yacht/plane/private island/museum wing. Presumably he wants his kids to get the best education possible and to meet the most interesting people that they can, but I'm sure that he has absolutely no desire to give them enough money so that they can turn into the kind of billionaire brats that he detests.

Brilliant reply, in this case if his kid isn't able to get in on merit alone, paying a premium for the "privilege" to be surrounded by a mix of wealthy and/or incredibly intelligent people is entirely reasonable.

Top tier universities are where the elites go to find spouses.

And future business partners, investors, advisors, etc. etc.

Yes, from up here in Canada it is astounding to me how much the question "where did you go to college?" means to Americans. During socializing, during hiring, in professional life.

We have universities that are 'better' (for some definition) in various disciplines; but generally a degree from any university is considered good.

And it by no means determines or describes your class position in the same way it does just a couple hours south of me.

It's not all that important, and clearly their kids would have done fantastically even without an 'elite' University education. Hell, they could just drop that $37m into a trust fund and their kids would be set for life, without lifting another finger again, let alone going to college.

On the other hand, from their mentality, why NOT do what it takes to give them the best 'chance' to 'succeed'?

It's not like $37M is all they have, $37M is nothing to them, so why not? It's the price of prestige, it's the price to get the best damn education possible. Ask any parents, if it will give their children the slightest of advantages in life, parents will go out of their way to make it happen (especially if it's easy as spending money)

I guess, it may be that - you may want your children to be properly educated, and able to accomplish hard tasks (given at university) before handing them down businesses. Probably even working low-paid jobs for a while just to learn all the levels in the company.

But if you're buying their education anyway, does that really teach them the ability to accomplish hard tasks? I don't imagine the university being especially strict on the students whose parents gave very large donations.

I understand the value for an "ordinarily wealthy" individual, who is wealthy enough to give a bit to the university but does not have the sheer amount of connections that a super-wealthy one would have.

Yes.

“I paid $37M to get you into that position, I expect you will produce >$37M in results.”

> I don't understand how sending your child to those institutions is worth $37 million. Wouldn't it make more sense to give it to them directly, or as funding for one of their ventures?

$37 million on a net worth of $7.3 billion is barely a rounding error.