[MeetingsBrowser]

I’m not an expert in academic financing, but how much money from NSF research grants went towards building nice dorms?

I went to an inexpensive state college and the infrastructure was horrible. I would guess that things like dorms are largely paid for from tuition. How much is tuition at the state college in your city?

[elashri]

NSF grants can’t be used to build dorms, it’s actually in their official guidance. The rules (from the Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR 200) explicity say that federal research money can’t go toward capital projects like housing. The only "facilities" costs they allow are indirect ones like basic maintenance or utilities for existing research building not new construction. So dorms are totally off limits.