That's a common trope. People often complain about administrative bloat. Then there is a budget deficit and some administrators are cut (as it often happens in

That's a common trope. People often complain about administrative bloat. Then there is a budget deficit and some administrators are cut (as it often happens in public institutions around the world). And then people start complaining how they don't have time for their actual jobs, because they have to do the work the administrators were doing. Most of the time, compliance requirements only increase with every policy chance. Today in the US, there are new regulations on what you are allowed to do with federal grants. And those regulations are mostly on top of the existing ones. Administrators need to spend more time to ensure compliance, and the actual overheads go up. The administrative part of grant overheads is already capped at 26%. Even if universities managed to fire every single administrator, common grant overheads would still be 30% or higher. According to the current rules, which are insufficient to cover the actual overheads. At least if you ask the people who are supposed to understand the rules.