4 ms·

If universities aren't spending all this insanely high tuition on the actual educators, where exactly is it all going?

adamnemecek 7y ago
Administrators.
ronnier 7y ago
Administrators. Just like with most charities. I just looked at open jobs at Harvard. Here are some: Donor relations. Portfolio managers. Property operations. Director of student activities. Dean of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. Chief Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Officer
ceejayoz 7y ago
Judging from local construction, cushier dorms and other residential facilities. It seems to be a bit of an arms race amongst the higher-end private institutions now.
walleeee 7y ago
As the article states: advertising, admissions, administration, non-academic student programming, athletics, etc. Much of this seems like cosmetic fluff, probably intended to attract students (also, wealthy parents). Go to almost any competitive university in the U.S. and look at the groundskeeping, the promotional materials put out by the administration, the proportion of campus infrastructure dedicated to whichever sport is most popular. The modern American university is as much a brand as any other large consumer-facing corporation.
- tnecniv 7y ago
  > groundskeeping This is something that doesn't get mentioned much, but sucks up more of the budget then you'd think. I've attended multiple schools and I swear that a day didn't pass on my walk to class / my lab that I didn't see scaffolding somewhere to redo some part of some building / sculpture / landscaping feature.
trimbo 7y ago
Duquesne, which is mentioned in the article, has a $40K per year tuition for undergrads (higher for nursing, etc). They have 9,344 students and their operating budget of $300M, so $32K per student. Their employee budget is $186M and 2,632 employees, which is average ~$71K per employee. So why was this adjunct professor teaching 8 classes and only earning $25K per year? BTW, the president of the university makes $1.4M. Sources: [1] - https://www.duq.edu/about/departments-and-offices/finance-and-business/planning-budgeting-and-institutional-research/fast-facts https://www.duq.edu/about/departments-and-offices/finance-an... [2] - https://www.mcall.com/news/pennsylvania/mc-nws-pa-university-president-pay-20181211-story.html https://www.mcall.com/news/pennsylvania/mc-nws-pa-university...
- Steuard 7y ago
  Don't make the mistake of believing the sticker price of college/university tuition! It's quite routine for many colleges (private ones, at least) to offer "scholarships" covering a substantial fraction of tuition to literally every accepted student. Evidently, where marketing is concerned, families are way happier to say "My kid is going to a $40K college, and got a $15K scholarship!" than to say "My kid is going to a $25K college". Colleges that have tried to present themselves as less expensive by listing the actual tuition cost have quite often lost enrollment as a result. (Meanwhile, last I heard, Harvard tuition was free for the vast majority of families in the US, unless they're very wealthy. But their official listed tuition is nearly $50K.)
  - alexandercrohde 7y ago
    To Trimbo's point though, college is the most expensive it's ever been (by several fold factor). The math more that checks out to pay all university professors over 200k, if you could reduce the administration figures. I think the real question is why college expenses have grown so much
WhompingWindows 7y ago
Building renovations, new buildings, and of course the ever-expanding fleet of services -- 100 counselors for every field of study, vast marketing departments, expensive architectural designs, a different department for every sub-niche of humanities...
noelsusman 7y ago
My university (public with ~30k total students) got $382 million from tuition and fees last year. They spent $339 million just on student instruction. They spent $197 million on operations/maintenance. $115 million went to academic support and student services.

Administrators.

Administrators. Just like with most charities. I just looked at open jobs at Harvard. Here are some: Donor relations. Portfolio managers. Property operations. Director of student activities. Dean of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. Chief Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Officer

ceejayoz 7y ago

Judging from local construction, cushier dorms and other residential facilities. It seems to be a bit of an arms race amongst the higher-end private institutions now.

walleeee 7y ago

As the article states: advertising, admissions, administration, non-academic student programming, athletics, etc. Much of this seems like cosmetic fluff, probably intended to attract students (also, wealthy parents). Go to almost any competitive university in the U.S. and look at the groundskeeping, the promotional materials put out by the administration, the proportion of campus infrastructure dedicated to whichever sport is most popular. The modern American university is as much a brand as any other large consumer-facing corporation.

tnecniv 7y ago
> groundskeeping This is something that doesn't get mentioned much, but sucks up more of the budget then you'd think. I've attended multiple schools and I swear that a day didn't pass on my walk to class / my lab that I didn't see scaffolding somewhere to redo some part of some building / sculpture / landscaping feature.

trimbo 7y ago

Duquesne, which is mentioned in the article, has a $40K per year tuition for undergrads (higher for nursing, etc). They have 9,344 students and their operating budget of $300M, so $32K per student. Their employee budget is $186M and 2,632 employees, which is average ~$71K per employee. So why was this adjunct professor teaching 8 classes and only earning $25K per year? BTW, the president of the university makes $1.4M. Sources: [1] - https://www.duq.edu/about/departments-and-offices/finance-and-business/planning-budgeting-and-institutional-research/fast-facts https://www.duq.edu/about/departments-and-offices/finance-an... [2] - https://www.mcall.com/news/pennsylvania/mc-nws-pa-university-president-pay-20181211-story.html https://www.mcall.com/news/pennsylvania/mc-nws-pa-university...

Steuard 7y ago
Don't make the mistake of believing the sticker price of college/university tuition! It's quite routine for many colleges (private ones, at least) to offer "scholarships" covering a substantial fraction of tuition to literally every accepted student. Evidently, where marketing is concerned, families are way happier to say "My kid is going to a $40K college, and got a $15K scholarship!" than to say "My kid is going to a $25K college". Colleges that have tried to present themselves as less expensive by listing the actual tuition cost have quite often lost enrollment as a result. (Meanwhile, last I heard, Harvard tuition was free for the vast majority of families in the US, unless they're very wealthy. But their official listed tuition is nearly $50K.)
- alexandercrohde 7y ago
  To Trimbo's point though, college is the most expensive it's ever been (by several fold factor). The math more that checks out to pay all university professors over 200k, if you could reduce the administration figures. I think the real question is why college expenses have grown so much

WhompingWindows 7y ago

Building renovations, new buildings, and of course the ever-expanding fleet of services -- 100 counselors for every field of study, vast marketing departments, expensive architectural designs, a different department for every sub-niche of humanities...

noelsusman 7y ago

My university (public with ~30k total students) got $382 million from tuition and fees last year. They spent $339 million just on student instruction. They spent $197 million on operations/maintenance. $115 million went to academic support and student services.