This got our attention. Illinois’s Northwestern University is finishing up the construction of a new $800 million football stadium. This is supposedly a nonprofit “educational” entity.

Uh huh.

Almost all of that $800 million was donated to the school with tax-deductible dollars and about half came from Pat Ryan, a multi-billionaire.

This means the taxpayers effectively kicked in about $250 million of the total cost of this Taj Mahal on Lake Michigan’s shore, complete with luxury sky boxes.

Don’t get us wrong. Many of your editors love college football, but this stadium is nearly as ritzy as many of the professional football venues. No word yet if there will be hot tubs in the end zones.

We’ve noted many times that universities have a combined endowment of nearly $1 trillion. This stadium scandal is another wake up call to Congress that it’s time to start taxing this mountain of cash and taxing donations.