'Administrative bloat' and the cost of higher education

Despite whatever figures are mentioned in this article, salaries in higher education suck.

 

Unless you're a diversity officer.

 

Which is 0.000000001% of the working folks in higher education?

 

From the jobs I've looked at, the salaries aren't brilliant but the benefits are way, way better than most similarly-paying jobs.

 

This is a true statement.

 

Purdue has a provost, six vice provosts and 11 vice presidents. (Also 16 deans, but it seems reasonable that every school has a dean.) If that were an appropriate number, it would have been that way a decade ago too. But the overall number of administrative employees grew 54 percent in that time.

If that leadership team were, say, 12 people instead of 18 -- and if some salaries were right-sized along the way -- the savings to the university would be in the millions of dollars. And I don't know if any less work would get done.

 

Here is something for perspective:
I got my bachelors degree in the 1990s. My tuition, start to finish in just under four years, was less than $11,000 total at nearby state u.
I am currently about halfway to getting my masters (not in journalism thank the lord). The tuition for the program is approximately $12,000 and takes 15 months at a small private college. Fortunately, my wife teaches at the college, so our bill is $0.
Undergraduate tuition at her school is $30K A YEAR.