3 ms·
Not really, at least in my experience. Overhead is fungible, so they get roughly the same cut of everything that comes in (to a first approximation). That mea
by ska 3y ago
Not really, at least in my experience. Overhead is fungible, so they get roughly the same cut of everything that comes in (to a first approximation).
That means the support the institution will put behind a shoot-for-the-stars research centre grant is way different than what a theorist looking to pay for 5 grad students will get, but the institution is happy to proportionately support that as well. Especially R1's that are trying to play the prestige game aggressively, they'll push for a "world class" faculty page pretty much across the board. But they don't all get the same offices.
Institutions' reliance on overhead to fund operations varies wildly as well, which makes the calculus different.
- ska 3y agoOh I should note that capex and opex aren't treated the same in grant-land either, and funding agencies can put limits on university overhead for infrastructure grants etc. so that's not all apples to apples. The benefit to the university for soft salary or funding grad students etc. in both scenarios is the same, but getting money for a new computer cluster or a synchrotron or whatever isn't, typically.