Comment by rapatel0

It's not misinformation. You are repeating a misleading talking point. Here's what happens.

- Professor & students get a grant application for 100K.

- University charges indirects at a ratio (0.55)

- 155K gets transferred from treasury to the university account.

That extra 55K comes from the money that congress allocated for grants, so if congress allocates 1 billion dollars -> 450 million will actually go to professors for research. (less than half).

I don't know about you but the universities I went to were rarely ever building new labs or buildings. Furthermore, those large projects always have state grant money coming out of another funding pool.

Glossing over some details, but the fact of the matter is that it's opaque.