Research universities heavily depend on federal money to conduct research and carry out other areas of work. For example, after tuition, federal money allocated for research made up 40% of the total revenue for two major research universities ' Johns Hopkins University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology ' in the 2022-23 academic year. As scholars of public administration and economics and former university administrators, we think parents and college applicants need to understand this economic landscape to make smart choices about making such a major investment. Here are four key things to know. Most American private colleges and universities are nonprofits, but they still care about revenue. These schools aren't responsible to shareholders, but they may respond to pressure from alumni, students, employees, donors, boards, the federal government and, if the schools are public universities, state governments. And like businesses, nonprofit colleges and universities need money....
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