When Stanley J. Seeger gave Princeton $2 million for Hellenic studies nearly three decades ago, the gift’s income paid for two courses in modern Greek and trips to Greece for five.

But the Seeger money, which must be spent only on matters Greek, is now worth $33 million, multiplying through aggressive investing like the rest of Princeton’s endowment. So the university offers Greek, Greek and more Greek  13 courses this semester, including “The Image of Greece in European Cinema” and “Problems in Greek History: Greek Democracy,” as well as trips to Greece and nearby areas for more than 90 students and faculty members last year. The history department recently hired its second Byzantine specialist. And the fund paid half the cost of a collection of 800 rare coins from medieval Greece.

“Institutions do get shaped by the interests of donors,” said Robert K. Durkee, vice president and secretary of Princeton.

As the nation’s wealthiest colleges and universities report on their finances to Congress, seeking to head off federal requirements that they spend at least 5 percent of their endowment assets each year, new attention is being paid to how endowments are structured, and on the restrictions imposed by donors.