Typical annual fees: 9k Typical class size: 25 x 3 years = 75 undergrads per course Typical income for the university: 675k per course per year Typical lecturer/researcher salary: 35k Number of lecturers: 6 Total income less salary: ~ 0.5 million/yr

More students means more money.

So it's not just students who feel entitled. There's been a trend for years now of bullshit fill-up-the-hall "academic" courses with limited job prospects which only exist to part students from their cash.

Of course the real picture is more complicated. On the minus side there are expenses, but on the plus side many departments hoover up astonishing sums in national and sometimes corporate research funding.

The bottom line is that universities sweat students and lecturers and researchers for cash, and could afford to be more generous with everyone.