Something To Think About

While trying to track down information on another topic, I came across this thought-provoking article. The author is addressing the rising cost of a college education.

In ancient Athens, students generally became educated by going to a learned man, paying him something, and in turn then received his wisdom in the form of lectures and dialogue. Suppose 10 students paid Socrates 10 drachmas each, or a total of 100 drachmas. Socrates’ “salary” would then be equivalent to the amount of tuition payments made by students. The proportion of tuition payments going to pay the “professor” would be 100 percent.

Writing in 1776, Adam Smith lamented getting away from the financing scheme of the ancient Greeks, famously noting that the quality of teaching fell at Oxford when students stopped paying the professors directly and gave their tuition payments to the university. Before that happened, the Oxford dons would collect, say, 100 shillings in tuition revenue, and perhaps pay 15 or 20 shillings of that to the University for the use of space and minor other administrative services, so the percent of tuition fees going for faculty salaries would be high, perhaps 80 percent.

When I first read this I thought that having my students pay me directly sounded like a great idea. After thinking about it a little more, however, I decided that it wouldn't work today. They already have an abundance of that "the customer is always right" entitlement attitude. If they handed over cash straight to me they'd all expect to pass, regardless of performance. (Heck, they expect that already. If they paid me directly they'd be impossible to reason with.)

Currently, the ratio of tuition to faculty salaries is approximately 50% - that is, half of what a student pays in tuition goes to the faculty, and half to the university. When other sources of funding are considered -- gifts, endowments, grants, state and federal subsidies -- the ratio of faculty salaries to total revenue is closer to 25%.

Where does the rest of the money go? Facilities (buildings, labs, grounds), support services (IT support, maintenance, student services), and administrative and athletic programs.

Facilities and support services are, at some level, necessary. Most schools could probably trim some fat from them, but the big money is in the administrative and athletic programs.

Some random observations: (from here and here).

...the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor has 53% more full-time "administrators and professionals" (9,652) than full-time faculty (6,305), or a ratio of 1.53 administrative and professional positions for every full-time faculty member.

"Michigan public universities increased their spending on administrative positions by nearly 30% on average in the last five years, even as university leaders say they've slashed expenses to keep college affordable for families. The number of administrative jobs grew 19% over that period at the state's public universities, according to data submitted by the schools to the state budget office.

(At The University of North Caroline system) ... the administrative ranks have grown by 28%, from 1,269 administrative jobs to 1,623 last year, UNC-system data show. That's faster than the growth of faculty and other teaching positions ... and faster than student enrollment... The number of people with provost or chancellor in their titles alone has increased by 34% the past five years, from 312 in 2004 to 418 last year. The cost was $61.1 million, up $25 million from five years before.

The Chancellor of the University of Texas system -- the CEO equivalent who oversees nine universities and six health-care teaching institutions -- makes around  $750,000 per year. The head football coach at the University of Texas makes slightly over $6 million per year.

It is obvious that priorities are out of whack, and that there is substantial administrative bloat that could be eliminated, at least at public universities. What's lacking is the political will to do so.

And yet most schools still have the gall to include something in their mission statement about educating the youth of America.

GMAFB...