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How does increasing admin size by something like 10x make sense when states cut funding to public schools?
by google234123 4y ago
How does increasing admin size by something like 10x make sense when states cut funding to public schools?
- slg 4y agoI can see that happening in a few steps: 1. State cuts funding 2. Public schools need to raise tuition to make up the difference 3. The gap in price between public and private school decreases 4. Schools need to improve their product to attract students in order to make up for this lost savings 5. Schools work to improve amenities and add ancillary services (and this can now become cyclical when other schools improve, sending you back to step 4 again) 6. The administration bloats as they hire people to work in these new areas. Basically one person's "administrative bloat" is another persons "investment in attracting students". I think really the only difference between the two is whether the return on investment is positive or not.
- mattkrause 4y agoOn top of that, it seems like more schools are trying to do/increase graduate education and research. In principle, this helps two ways. It increases the prestige of the school, thereby attracting students. More directly, it brings in new revenue streams, both from tuition (paid directly or via federal training grants) and via overhead on research grants. However, it requires more--and fundamentally different--kinds of admin.