March 29, 2017/ 5:56pm

America's Ivy League colleges received more than $26 billion in federal contracts and grants over the past six years, a new report shows.

Gerri Willis noted their income from government sources "dwarfed" that of tuition.

The report, by Open The Books, said that over that same time frame, those universities' collected tuition that amounted to only $22 billion.

"It's a bull market for government contracting at the Ivy League," said Adam Andrzejewski of Open The Books.

While some of the federal contracts go to perceptibly worthwhile causes like the study of AIDS, Willis said some of that taxpayer money looked at binge drinking as well as a study of turtles' sex chromosomes.

Willis said the funding from the feds amounted to more than Washington gives to 16 state governments.

While none of the colleges denied the report, Princeton explained it funds one-third of its own research and Yale slightly more than one-third.

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