People throw around offensive-sounding numbers of millions of dollars for college amenities, but often they work out to pocket change per student
This is not true, generally. The cost of running a modern university (property, plant, energy) is quite material. These costs are an order of magnitude above "pocket change".
Physical plant costs are material, yes. However, the issue is specifically the incremental physical plant costs of having nice things like brand new athletic centers.
My university has a new $51m gym. $51,000,000 / 12,000 students / 30 years = $142/student/year. Roughly the price of a single science textbook, and that's assuming it only lasts 30 years.
Not pocket change on a student's personal expenses budget, but compared to the $65k sticker cost of attendance, it's a drop in the ocean. If administration had refrained from spoiling its students with nice things, cost of attendance would not be markedly less.
=~$1.5 B on opex. Which is basically garnderers, housekeepers, lawn-mowers, and janitors. That, plus security, heat electric, etc. golf courses, gyms, etc.
Pocket change in this context would be 1-3% of a cost base.[1] >5% is not pocket change, it is a material expense. The expenses in question may be in the 30-40% range ( >10x a "pocket change" amount of 1-2%). Hope this is clearer.
Obviously this isn't granular enough to draw any conclusions from, but my alma mater (University of Virginia) has an annual opex of about $2b. This covers about 12,000 undergrads and 8,000 grad/professional students.
This is not true, generally. The cost of running a modern university (property, plant, energy) is quite material. These costs are an order of magnitude above "pocket change".