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The cool trick is that some of the direct costs are for things that the university didn't pay for. Consider the building. Some rich people donate enough to pa

by anamax 5y ago

The cool trick is that some of the direct costs are for things that the university didn't pay for. Consider the building. Some rich people donate enough to pay for its construction. The university didn't pay anything. Moreover, that's a tax-deduction for them, so the Feds are effectively paying for part of it. Now some sponsored research is to take place in that building. You guessed it, the university charges rent to the research grant. Remember that the university didn't pay for the building....

Spooky23 5y ago
That sort of thing is factored into the programs and policies. Efficiency isn’t really the point. You don’t pay for the building, but a bunch of Vice Associate Provosts get paid to do something and the union janitors make a living. Economists can map this crap to direct and indirect labor hours generated and other economic metrics. At some level we do this stuff as a type of work program. Somebody calculates how many hotel nights and cheeseburgers are consumed for each construction dollar spent, etc.
- anamax 5y ago
  The janitors are paid for by the rent. The "efficiency" here is that the university gets paid for an asset that it didn't pay for.
  - pests 5y ago
    Is that not allowed? If someone gives you a house or a car, is it wrong to profit off it by renting it out or offering it on rideshare?
    - jcelerier 5y ago
      The idea that universities or other public services should be profitable in any way is bewildering to me
  - Spooky23 5y ago
    They get paid for the whole institution. It’s not a contracting model in the traditional sense, it a model designed to support the educational mission of the university.
    - anamax 5y ago
      > it a model designed to support the educational mission of the university. Except for the small problem that research contracts with orgs, some for profit, that don't have an educational mission, such as SRI, BBN, etc, follow the same model (absent the donated buildings).

by anamax 5y ago

Spooky23 5y ago

That sort of thing is factored into the programs and policies. Efficiency isn’t really the point. You don’t pay for the building, but a bunch of Vice Associate Provosts get paid to do something and the union janitors make a living. Economists can map this crap to direct and indirect labor hours generated and other economic metrics. At some level we do this stuff as a type of work program. Somebody calculates how many hotel nights and cheeseburgers are consumed for each construction dollar spent, etc.

anamax 5y ago
The janitors are paid for by the rent. The "efficiency" here is that the university gets paid for an asset that it didn't pay for.
- pests 5y ago
  Is that not allowed? If someone gives you a house or a car, is it wrong to profit off it by renting it out or offering it on rideshare?
  - jcelerier 5y ago
    The idea that universities or other public services should be profitable in any way is bewildering to me
- Spooky23 5y ago
  They get paid for the whole institution. It’s not a contracting model in the traditional sense, it a model designed to support the educational mission of the university.
  - anamax 5y ago
    > it a model designed to support the educational mission of the university. Except for the small problem that research contracts with orgs, some for profit, that don't have an educational mission, such as SRI, BBN, etc, follow the same model (absent the donated buildings).