BACKGROUND: Stanford University was the biggest recipient of federal funds over the past five years. It counted more than $7 billion. It received more than any of the Ivies, and Northwestern. Only Dartmouth received less than $1 billion in federal contracts and grants.
Most of the funds – roughly $29 billion (88-percent) versus $4 billion (12-percent) – were provided by the feds via grants, not contracts. Grants are giveaways and, typically, the recipient university owns the work product — meaning they profit from the resulting intellectual property. Contracts are for work done on behalf of a federal agency – taxpayers own the output.
KEY FINDINGS:
1. Ivy League payments and entitlements cost taxpayers $41.59 billion over a six-year period (FY2010-FY2015). This is equivalent to $120,000 in government monies, subsidies, & special tax treatment per undergraduate student, or $6.93 billion per year.