I encourage anyone taking this line of criticism to compare an e.g. $5B state university to any other similar sized enterprise, and consider what increased oper

I encourage anyone taking this line of criticism to compare an e.g. $5B state university to any other similar sized enterprise, and consider what increased operational and administrative costs those other organizations have had to undertake since 1976. This can include HR and IT and healthcare, legal liability and industry compliance. Now add to that the additional regulatory burdens specific to higher education, and the increased market expectations of higher education as a holistic 'experience' that is almost unrecognizable from what it was 50 years ago. Much of that professional staff is geared toward corporate-style product development and marketing, because they've been forced to by a lack of public funding. And while a commercial corporation generally aims to retain and grow a customer base, gaining some economy of scale for those professional positions, universities are functionally capped at those small ratios you describe. Of course there is administrative bloat, and the funding model doesn't do enough to self-regulate that, but lack of public investment causes more systemic inefficiencies than that.