Are Universities Really Non-Profits?

In a recent Washington Post op-ed, tax policy expert Scott Hodge reminds us that many universities engage in numerous activities that are tax-exempt but have only an indirect or modest connection to education:

According to the latest Internal Revenue Service tax data … the top 100 private colleges generated $207 billion of revenue in 2023. Roughly 80 percent of that income came from business-type sources such as ticket sales, research contracts, stadium deals, broadcast rights, investments, royalties, rents and, yes, tuition — which is generally considered payment for services rendered. But the t