Comment by ALLTaken
Wow, you went down the rabbit-hole, much appreciated! Do I understand correctly, that your analysis boils down to the money is indeed being pocketed rather than used for equipment or improving anything at all at the university?
Wow, you went down the rabbit-hole, much appreciated! Do I understand correctly, that your analysis boils down to the money is indeed being pocketed rather than used for equipment or improving anything at all at the university?
> money is indeed being pocketed
No. What amount (if any) is being pocketed is not apparent from such data. Perhaps contrary to your expectation, it's basically impossible to pocket money allocated for salaries (people would complain they don't get what they're owed). It's much easier to pocket equipment. In any case, the referenced data is quite independent of that.
Instead, it shows that the universities do not allocate money on equipment (because that's what grants are for). Of course, spending grant money on lab equipment for undergrads directly competes with equipment for research, which puts a group at a competitive disadvantage in their field of research.