Off-Topic Discussion from "Colleges Crossed Off List or Moved Up After Visiting"

[NiceUnparticularMan]

And here it is:

Even Farther Off-Topic: Costs, Subsidies, and Value

This is a further offshoot of the Off Topic thread regarding campus visits: The general topic in this thread is how colleges and universities spend money, where they get that money, and ideas for how to assess all that when making college choices. Just to get started, in the prior thread we were discussing how some prominent US colleges and universities have very high operating costs per student, and would have even higher costs per student if you allocated out a portion of capital costs. This can be so high that it exceeds even full pay for privates, let alone OOS or in-state costs. These colleges and universities therefore rely on more than just student payments for revenues. Some have very large endowments with a lot of endowment income. Some get a lot of gifts for present use. Some have a lot of research grants and other contracts. Some have an associated medical system which transfers over some revenues. Some get other revenues from various services they provide. And s…