Students don't pay departments, they pay the university itself. The university determines the department's budget. So departments will have budgets which alloca

Students don't pay departments, they pay the university itself. The university determines the department's budget. So departments will have budgets which allocate the number of professors, instructors and teaching assistants. From there, they determine the number of courses and sections they can offer. And, from there, they will determine how many students they can handle.