There are also the federal classifications- exempt and non-exempt, the 1099’ers and the W2 folks, etc.
None of these classifications matter for the discussion we are having. Are costs too high and can they be trimmed while leaving the educational mission and product intact?
And I would suggest that it has at least something to do with it. It’s worth looking at the proliferation of administrative positions (especially upper administration)—just comparing the number of (generally highly compensated) vice-provosts and vice-presidents and so on now with 20 years ago, it’s worth questioning whether that is necessary for mission fulfillment, since it clearly wasn’t previously.
That said, none of that is going to help an institution that has seen its enrollment drop by 40% over the past decade. But will it help a college that is running a small structural deficit? Quite possibly, especially since doing things like cutting majors—and therefore faculty and (less well-compensated) staff—can have the effect of depressing enrollment because there is less to attract new students, resulting in a death spiral.
I agree with your POV except that the highly compensated vice-provosts can’t all be lumped together. Some ARE mission critical- you can’t run a credible (i.e. bringing in revenue AND contributing meaningfully to a discipline) program without someone in the administration who focuses on all the infrastructure that’s required to actually land and administer a successful grant. There are colleges who are running entire commercial enterprises on the side (building a shopping center on a defunct parking lot) with a VP in charge of real estate. This role didn’t exist 20 years ago because it was very unusual for a college to have taxable revenue and so the college didn’t need to employ people who knew the intricacies of these business offerings.
Etc. Just can’t use a broad brush.
I abhor cutting majors except when it’s majors I think are dumb. So keep the Latin faculty and dump the recreation management professors. I’m OK with that!
NOOO!!! Not the Recreation Management Professors!!! How will people recreate without being managed?!
I took Recreation Management at the local community college when I was in the Air Force. It was a pretty good, admittedly easy class, and the guy who taught it was the head football coach. You can’t get rid of the head football coach.
Not a good day for Medaille University
It’s official Bay State in Boston closing
From merger to closing. Medaille University closing down Aug 31
I guess it’s good that the closing will be August 31, so the students who were supposed to get a degree in August will still be able to get it, as I think it was originally going to close at the end of July.
And in further good-ish news for its students, Medaille has announced teach-out agreements with Daemen University, Villa Maria College, SUNY Alfred State and Niagara University.
But speaking of teach-out agreements, here’s bad news of a different sort: Upper Iowa University is making serious cuts to eliminate a deficit that’s draining its (small) endowment: eliminating nearly a third of its intercollegiate sports (announced last month) and more than a third of its satellite locations, along with what appears to be to close to 10% of its faculty(? not certain about the scope of the employee cuts, some of them might have been part-time, some might have been support staff).
The kicker: UIU was one of the teach-out locations for Iowa Wesleyan University, which means that students accessing their teach-out through one of the closed UIU satellite locations are in a bind now.
Allegheny College posted on their Instagram too that they would be happy to take transfers from Medaille and will provide a “smooth transition and guaranteed funding”
After Arkansas rejects taking over UofPhoenix it seems Idaho will take it over. Will be interesting to watch how they manage this. How crazy a non profit paying USD 550 million with a bond issue 
from what I calculate they will be paying 35 million in interest for a small state school
What an odd decision. Schools are really getting creative in trying to come up with new revenue streams. Not quite sure what to make of this, though.
I won’t say what University I work at, but it’s medium sized. And you just described the dynamics perfectly. I am a staff member.
Kings College NYC seems next to close down.
Well Paul Smith college merger fell through and they need to have a plan for a teach out. Not good!
https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/paul-smith-s-college-asked-craft-closure-plan-18102145.php
The flip side of college closures: There’s an interesting writeup today in a Chronicle of Higher Education email newsletter on how Medaille University’s closure has allowed Niagara University to take over Medaiile’s highly-regarded Division I women’s bowling program. Niagara had been considering starting a team, but that would have required a lot of effort that the college didn’t really have the bandwidth for—but importing an already fully-formed team was much simpler. The money line:
But this is about more than sports. The bowling team has also been strong academically, and it will help Niagara get noticed and recruit students, Gray said. “We’re all looking for differentiators in higher education.”…Athletics can be crucial for small private colleges that struggle to recruit enough students to meet budgets. This is true even at the Division I level, where colleges use a combination of athletic and merit aid to compete for athletes…And now Niagara won’t need to build its own facility for the team, which will keep bowling at the same lanes as Medaille.
(And as a nice human-interest bonus: “{Medaille’s} bowlers thought their team would be disbanded when the university first announced its closure. Now, they’re excited to stay together…”)
Drexel University to absorb Salus University, a health science school.
Drexel, Salus universities in eastern Pennsylvania to merge - pennlive.com
Golden Gate University Law School in danger of shutting down.