In “Those Hidden College Fees,” Rochelle Sharpe correctly observes that the underlying reasons for the rising costs of college are not immediately clear to students and families, since institutions can easily divert funds from their original purpose. That points to another fundamental challenge to college affordability: the growth in administrative spending. A recent analysis by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni of federal data for over 1,100 colleges and universities found that, over a five year period, more than 200 schools had inflation-adjusted increases of at least 20% in expenditure on administration that outpaced the increase in instructional spending over the same time period. Governing boards—whose trustees have a fiduciary duty to the public—must be painstaking in their oversight and diligent in asking the right questions to ensure that their institution’s administrative spending is in keeping with its academic mission rather than an expansion and remuneration of the bureaucracy for its own sake.
Dozens of regional public and private colleges have eliminated jobs and programs this summer to close budget gaps as enrollment and tuition revenues...
Varner Hall, home of the University of Nebraska’s central administration, has doubled its budget in the past decade even as the university’s...
With college costs rising and some students and families questioning the return on investment of a four-year degree, a few pioneering state universities are exploring programs that would grant certain bachelor’s degrees in three years.
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