The high investment yield of many college and university endowments is attracting the interest of a handful of donors who have begun to invest their trusts alongside college endowments, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The practice has also expanded beyond donors, as some college officials have deferred compensation by investing though their institution’s endowment. Some colleges are considering whether to extend the option to faculty members in hopes of recruiting top-notch scholars.

Beyond the benefits of gaining access to the top investment expertise of many endowment managers, donors and college officials gain access to hedge funds and private equity that individual investors normally cannot touch. Donors who invest with universities set up charitable remainder trusts, guaranteeing that the institution will receive money left in a trust when a donor dies.

Harvard University was the first institution to win permission from the Internal Revenue Service to offer donors the ability to put their money into endowment investments. (To read more about how the effort got started, see this Chronicle of Philanthropy article.)