Abstract:

The great complaint about Higher Education in the U.S. is the cost of education. The one issue and statistic that jumps out over and over again is the number of administrators at U.S. institutions and the cost of those bloated number of administrators. In 1975 U.S. colleges employed one administrator for every eighty four students and one professional staffer - admissions officer, information technology specialist, etc. for every fifty students. As we approached 2006 the administrator to student ratio had dropped to one administrator for every sixty-eight students while the ratio of professional staffers had dropped to one for every twenty-one students. Many colleges and universities suffer from a huge bureaucracy that is not only expensive, but contributes to slow and often non-innovative decision making. Administrators are not necessary...they do not teach classes, and they do not produce knowledge. You can have a college or university with a minimal number of administrators, but not without students or faculty. As we look to reform higher education in the U.S. and make it more affordable, we must look to minimize administrative costs and bureaucracy.

Related to the explosion of administrative positions is the dramatic increase in administrative salaries. At the present time it is not uncommon to have a college president earning $1 million dollars or more and receiving a very lucrative benefits package as well including a cost free residence. Other top administrators are typically earning $500, 000 or more. There is no need to pay "professional" administrators unreasonably high salaries, and offer them higher job security as well. Boards at colleges and universities must put a stop to the uncontrollable spending on administration while reducing the number of full-time faculty.

This presentation will address this systemic problem that is and will continue to destroy much of U. S. higher education.

Keywords:

Administration, higher education, costs.