Attention Economy


Friday, December 2, 2022

Administrative Bloat and Cost of Higher Education

Fire Them All; God Will Know His Own
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/11/29/anderson-bureaucratic-bloat-harvard/
It is no secret that Harvard and its peers have amassed fortunes that are largely kept safe from the clutches of the Internal Revenue Service — apart from the 1.4 percent excise tax created under President Donald Trump, against which Harvard continues to lobby fiercely. Amidst rhetoric among Harvard students calling for higher taxes on large corporations and the wealthiest Americans, it seems strange that Harvard’s $53.2 billion, Yale’s $42.3 billion, and Princeton’s $37.7 billion are left off the hit list.
Ostensibly, universities have this mostly tax-free status because they are charitable institutions serving educational missions, an exemption which dates to one of the first American income tax laws passed in 1894. This status makes sense. Harvard is one of the world’s preeminent universities; surely it has used its billions of dollars of accumulated wealth to primarily invest in its educational program, building an unparalleled roster of top professors, expanding offerings to students, and reducing class sizes. Right?
Wrong. Harvard has instead filled its halls with administrators. Across the University, for every academic employee there are approximately 1.45 administrators. When only considering faculty, this ratio jumps to 3.09. Harvard employs 7,024 total full-time administrators, only slightly fewer than the undergraduate population. What do they all do?
 
My Take:
https://thehill.com/opinion/education/590971-will-the-us-higher-education-bubble-finally-burst/
The sustained high demand for college education resulting from misaligned incentives, misguided policies and societal pressures has led to a U.S. higher education sector that is characterized by runaway expenses, administrative bloat and less-than-ideal admissions policies. It may be time to burst the higher education bubble.
 
Related:
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/591995-health-care-and-higher-education-key-drivers-of-long-term-inflation/