College students and their families have struggled to pay for the rising cost of tuition, a cost that has been driven in part by swelling administrative expenses.
Over a 20-year period, the growth in administrative personnel at institutions of higher education has outpaced the growth in both faculty and student enrollment.
Critics refer to this as administrative bloat and contend it shows that universities and colleges are inefficient institutions.
Defenders say colleges are adding administrative staff to meet student needs.
An IBD analysis of data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that from 1989-2009 the number of administrative personnel at four- and two-year institutions grew 84%, from about 543,000 to over 1 million.
By contrast, the number of faculty increased 75%, from 824,000 to 1.4 million, while student enrollment grew 51%, from 13.5 million to 20.4 million.
The disparity was worse at public universities and colleges, where personnel in administration rose 71%, faculty 58% and student enrollment 40%. Private schools also saw administration and faculty growing faster than student enrollment, although faculties slightly outpaced administration increases.
Administrative personnel are employees who are not engaged in instruction and research. The jobs range from university president and provost to accountants, social workers, computer analysts and music directors.
One reason administration at public institutions has grown faster may be that bureaucracies tend to expand their staff and programs over time, regardless of need.
“The increase has a lot to do with all the money these institutions pull in from third parties, like state funds and student financial aid,” said Daniel Bennett, a research fellow at the conservative Center for College Affordability & Productivity. “They’re using it to grow their staff rather than on students.”
Since students are insulated from the full cost of tuition, administrators feel less pressure to spend more on faculty to teach students.
Bennett has also written that an onerous regulatory environment that higher education faces may be partially to blame.
“In order to comply with the government’s requirements, colleges need to employ a staff that is responsible for providing the multiple state and federal agencies with compliance reports and data,” he wrote.
Acknowledging that some of the increase may be due to administrators wanting “to re-create themselves,” Dan King, executive director at the American Association of University Administrators, claims it’s also due to changing needs.
“Students are coming in less prepared, needing more remedial assistance,” he said. “If they need help from a writing lab or math lab, that’s usually done by administrators. That’s something that universities didn’t have to provide as much even 10 years ago.”
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Sorry, if you need help writing, reading or doing math you don’t belong in a University. Simple as that.
100% agree.
That sounded harsh, but to clarify, higher education isn’t for everyone. I see plenty of evidence of that as a TA. When we pretend it is, and put methods in place to prevent students who should fail from failing, we aren’t doing anyone any favors.
There are plenty of other careers which are rewarding personally and lucrative that do not require a University education.
My brother is a tradesman and he makes a fine living doing that and is quite happy.
its sad that our kids dont get the basics they need in public school. ive read that many cant point out NY on a map or do basic math in there head.
Some even have trouble with their, there, and they’re.
Some people have problems locating the ‘ key as well. Fools, the lot of them.
Most or all get the basics or are at least offered the basics. Some don’t belong in college and should obtain vocational training. And there are those who have a parent or parents who don’t give a crap and either do many students. Being smart or taking an interest in succeeding in the inner city schools is looked upon as being a loser. The politicians pile on all kinds of unfunded shit on the schools and teachers. They have to take care of their social problems morning, noon, and afternoon. Stop blaming the schools.
The increase has a lot to do with all the money these institutions pull in from third parties, like state funds and student financial aid,” said Daniel Bennett, a research fellow at the conservative Center for College Affordability & Productivity. “They’re using it to grow their staff rather than on students.”
I believe that he names the wrong third parties, and so makes the wrong conclusion.
State funding per student has been declining almost everywhere, so it isn’t state funding that is paying for administrative staff.
Increasingly, public colleges and universities have had to seek new revenue sources to offset declining support in state budgets.
The two main types of revenue are research and revenue-producing activities.
Research funding to universities from the federal government, private foundations, and private industry have grown tremendously over the past 2 decades. In the most recent financial report for UC San Diego, revenue sources include:
$960 million in contracts and grants (research funding)
$350 million student tuition and fee payments
$298 million state appropriations
As you can see, the research funding is a dominant portion of UCSD’s revenues for research and education (UCSD pulls in another $960 million or so in revenue for the hospital and health facilities it operates). Almost none of these funds can be used for teaching, but all of them require administrative staff to carry out the financial administration and other non-research activities associated with the grant.
Hence, there has been large growth at research universities in administrative staff for activities that are neither related to student education nor funded in any way by student tuition.
In fact, the overhead costs charged to the contracts and grants helps offset some of the cost of overall campus operations, reducing the costs that have to be borne by tuition.
Revenue producing activity includes things like conferences, sport camps, and other activities held in campus facilities with the goal of producing profits that can offset the cost of dormitories and other facilities when they aren’t needed for students or educational activities. As with research, the revenue-producing activities require administrative staff that aren’t related to education or funded by tuition.
The dominance of research funding isn’t all good, IMO, but it does suggest that the rise in administrative staff numbers probably explain little of the increase in tuition cost.
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