The Economics of Duke University

"Grants and contracts revenue represents the largest component of University revenue ($1.5 billion and 38%)."[0]

Indeed. Many large US universities are more accurately labeled as research centers with schools attached.

Because those grants are extremely restricted in what they can pay for, it's not quite accurate to include them in anything like an "available operating revenue" number.

[0]https://resources.finance.duke.edu/resources/docs/Financial_...

I'd be curious to know the breakdown of "wages and benefits" between academics, teachers and administrative staff. I've heard that admin takes up a huge fraction of the cost. How large can it be?

From the comments:

>The number of staff and non-tenure track faculty has ballooned dramatically since I arrived at Rice in 2004. I agree with you, that from what I've read elsewhere, it's a common phenomenon at well-resourced institutions.

What I've seen at a number of universities are opportunities to get hired on to things like full-time maintenance staff with better pay, job security, and work-life-balance compared to actual PhDs.

And maybe more likely to be a decades-long career at the same institution, compared to recognized scholars.

I couldn't help but notice this about ten years ago, and UH looks like it is on track too.