2x to 4x overhead isn’t bad when applied to a PhD researcher who might get paid 20% to 30% of what he’d get once out in industry. Schools typically provide offices, equipment, lab facilities, practices, some know how and being able to tap faculty advisors who may specialist in the field.
If something useful is being studied, the bigger question is who owns the IP and any financial spinoffs. Any good school demands it all, and any chump school just wants another year of funding and freedom to publish.
The article also describes this.
“Columbia, for example, takes almost 30 cents on the dollar even on research done completely off campus. That is 30 cents on every dollar just for including the name “Columbia.” And even that is not enough for Columbia — the federal government sued Columbia in 2016 for fraudulently charging on-campus overhead (62 cents on the dollar) for off-campus work.”