Page 101 - Crisis in Higher Education

Understanding the Root Causes • 73

Plus, the mix of faculty has shifted dramatically toward lower paid, part-
time teachers, which means that overall faculty costs are lower. On the
other hand, administrator pay increased by 60% from 1993 to 2009, which
6
is 10 times faster than the growth rate of tenured faculty. Other sources
report on the ever-shrinking role of tenured university professors. 7–10
Another report shows that from 2000 to 2010 salaries for top admin-
istrators and presidents at public universities grew by 39% and 75%,
respectively, while tenured faculty salaries grew by only 19%. The study
also showed that the number of administrative positions increased by
11
369% from 1978 to 2014, while tenured faculty increased by only 23%.
For the same period, enrollment in undergraduate degree programs grew
by 73%, which is much higher than the rate of growth in tenured faculty
and much lower than the growth in administration. Although these data
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are not absolute proof that universities have made poor decisions about
resource allocation with respect to administration, the data would sup-
port a hypothesis that administrative spending is excessive.
The following bullet points examine the impact of root cause 1, “Lack
of Understanding— Who Is the Customer?,” on the underlying problems
listed in Table 4.3.

• Problem 1. Cost increases: Lack of understanding the customer has
led to poor resource allocation, which has increased the cost of
higher education.
• Problem 2. Quality decreases: It is important to strike the right bal-
ance in spending on faculty and administration. Based on the data,
it appears that universities are underinvesting in tenured faculty,
which may impact the quality of research and teaching. Reducing
administration and investing in tenured faculty should improve
quality and has the potential to reduce cost.
• Problem 3. Access decreases: Actions that increases cost should
decrease access because potential students from families with low
and moderate incomes may not have the resources to afford higher
education, even with financial aid from the institution and support
from government.
• Problem 4. Graduation rate decreases: Activities that increases cost
should decrease graduate rate because higher costs force some students
to work longer hours to earn more money, thereby jeopardizing their
classroom performance. They leave school, often with substantial debt,
and never return. In other cases, students become discouraged as they