Permanent University Fund

[2] In 1883, Texas and Pacific Railroad returned 1 million acres (4,000 km2), deemed too worthless to survey, to the State Government, which turned the land over to the PUF.

[7] The March 10, 1926, Texas Supreme Court case State ex rel Attorney General, v. Hatcher, decided against State Treasurer W. Gregory Hatcher, who refused to comply with Attorney General Dan Moody's demands that oil rights revenue be placed into the PUF rather than the AUF.

The Texas Supreme Court concluded that the 1876 Constitution directed subterranean revenue to be "corpus of the estate" rather than UT Austin disposable income.

[5] The AUF's distributions were directed, in 1931, by the legislature such that 2/3 of the money would go to UT Austin and 1/3 to Texas A&M, and also extended to be available for purchase of equipment and building construction.

[4] 1956 saw another amendment to the state constitution, this time setting the maximum AUF-backed bond issuance equal to 20% of the PUF's total asset value excluding land, as well as allowing Southwestern Medical School, Health Science Center at Houston, and M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, all of the UT System, access to AUF funds.

In 1984, the bond issuance capacity of the PUF was raised to 30% and the issuance of AUF funds was expanded to all existing University of Texas System and Texas A&M University System schools; another voter-approved amendment the same year authorized the creation of the Higher Education Assistance Fund, to help all public higher education institutions not covered by the PUF.

[4] The first was that distributions to the AUF would equal both realized (income return) and unrealized (capital gains) PUF assets.

On 7 February 2008, after months of study, the UT board of regents authorized an increase in AUF annual transfers, from 4.75% of the PUF value to 5.00%, citing recent PUF growth of more than 10% per year and unrest over the large annual increases in tuition at UT Austin.

The Big Lake oil discovery, within the Permian Basin, revised the value of the land, and ensured a richly endowed university system.

Currently, PUF land assets deliver proceeds through oil, gas, sulfur, and water royalties, rentals on mineral leases, and gains on fiduciary investments.

[13] As of December 2008 figures, the PUF holds approximately $8.8 billion in investments and 2,100,000 acres (8,500 km2) of land located in 21 counties, mostly in West Texas.

[17] Of the 2007-08 year's $1 billion core academic budget of UT Austin, the AUF's funding accounted for $143 million.

In February 2009, UTIMCO drew criticism from the state's legislative and executive branches for awarding bonuses to employees despite the global financial crisis of 2008–2009.

Robert Rowling, chairman of UTIMCO and vice chairman of the UT Austin board of regents, insisted that the bonuses he authorized were for the fiscal year ending 31 July 2008, in which the PUF net fiduciary assets decreased by 3.26%, or $383 million, as compared to nearly 14% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The predecessor schools were not eligible for PUF allocations, but the law that created UTRGV made the new institution PUF-eligible, and was passed by the required two-thirds vote of both legislative chambers.

The most recently added institution is Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA), which joined the UT System starting with the 2023–24 academic year.