Well, the university will take a big slice (sometimes ~40%) of what researchers get from the NIH as "overhead", and then spend it on admins. And if professors hire grad students, the university will take another big slice as "tuition" even if the grad students aren't taking any courses.
This is one reason I'm leaving academia – if I raise money outside of academia, I actually get to keep it.
This is one reason I'm leaving academia – if I raise money outside of academia, I actually get to keep it.