The letter asks 13 sets of questions about the costs to manage the funds, including fee arrangements, and how investment income was spent for the past three years and, if available, for the current year. The questions -- with answers due on April 1 - - also seek data about how much of the investment return is spent on financial aid and asks about categories of assets.


Record Gifts


Congress needs to have a better understanding of how endowment funds and “the exorbitant cost” of higher education interact, Roskam, of Illinois, said in an interview.

“The status quo, in terms of the cost of higher education, isn’t working,” Roskam said. “If the tax code is having an impact one way or another, we need to understand it.”

The letters address donations, including naming rights, at a time when some of the wealthiest schools have received record gifts, which also bolster endowment values in addition to investment income. Schools in the year ended June 2015 raised a record $40.3 billion, according to the Council for Aid to Education.

Schools counter their endowments come from thousands of gifts and they can’t break agreements with donors who specify how money should be spent.

“I’m hopeful this process will allow us to learn more about how university endowments use their tax preferences to fulfill their charitable purposes,” Hatch, of Utah, said in a statement.

Investment returns on average for endowments in the year ended June 30 were the worst in three years, with a gain of 2.4 percent, following a 15.5 percent rise in the previous year. The largest endowments, $1 billion and more, had the strongest returns in the most recent year, at 4.3 percent, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers and investment manager Commonfund.


Generous Aid


Several of the richest schools -- which offer the most generous financial aid -- had outsized returns. Those include Bowdoin College’s $1.4 billion fund, with a 14.4 percent gain; Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s $13.5 billion endowment, with 13.2 percent return; and Princeton University’s $22.7 billion fund, up 12.7 percent.