<p>"The demand for four-year college degrees is softening, the result of a perfect storm of economic and demographic forces that is sapping pricing power at a growing number of U.S. colleges and universities, according to a new survey by Moody's Investors Service."</p>
<p>I was thinking of tacking this onto the Merit thread but decided to start a new one given that I think that most felt that this would eventually happen though the price increases have gone up far higher than I think they would have from years ago.</p>
<p>The thing that bugs me about the article is that they say they might have to cut academic programs, but nobody mentions they SHOULD be cutting administrative costs.</p>
<p>Would someone who knows the answer to this tell me if faculty have any input into administrative costs. Or is it only administrators who can protect their positions in this situation?</p>
<p>State Schools have been going through this for the last five years as most states have had budget problems and contributions to universities is lower on the priority list than other areas. So son saw this at his university. The cuts made material differences in quality. I do not know if administrative positions were cut - I assume that they were.</p>
<p>On faculty - the faculty in his department are hired primarily on their ability to bring in grant money. Teaching ability is lower priority. In times of budget cuts, professors may have to teach more courses or more students and get their research done.</p>
<p>I assume that some of these sorts of things will be making their way into private schools if parents and students vote with their feet and their wallets.</p>
<p>I imagine that someone could add up total administrative costs including those that aren’t related to education and then simply divide by the number of students.</p>
<p>I’m sure that the BC Football program has administrative costs but the football program is a profit center. Should those administrative costs be included? Sure. It makes for a better article.</p>
<p>Maybe, BC. But, for you, that is a very unserious response.</p>
<p>As far as I can see, and I’ve looked at it from a lot of angles:</p>
<ol>
<li> there are too many bells and whistles.</li>
<li> there is too much being spent administratively, including pensions.</li>
<li> there is a profit type orientation because of this administrative paycheck, and the mission has a lot less to do with instruction than it ought to, imho.</li>
</ol>
<p>If education has lost its way, and I personally think it has to some extent, it has lost its way in the hands of the 6 figure administrator, who is looking for ways to protect his or her income at the expense of the students and faculty. JMO</p>
<p>I’m not always serious. But the reply was serious. I’ve seen enough bad articles on higher education in the past year to suspect the writer if something doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>$8K for administrative costs does not leave much for academics and I have a hard time believing that a state university system can be that bad as to spend almost half of their revenue on administrative costs. UConn does not have a bad reputation either.</p>
<p>The same thing happens at our public schools below college–instead of streamlining administration when budgets are tight, they look to cut back at the schools and classrooms. It’s very sad and upsetting that they don’t look to increase efficiencies and cut back on administration/bureaucracy first.</p>
<p>"Moody’s also attributed the enrollment decline at some public universities to a “heightened scrutiny of the value of higher education” after years of tuition increases and stagnating family income. The credit-rating firm said in its report that more students are “increasingly attending more affordable community colleges . . …”</p>
<p>Sigh. I had thought this would happen years and dollars ago. Never did I thiink that private colleges would be able to ask the prices they are these days, and a the more popular OOS flagships are getting right up there as well. </p>
<p>I had predicted that we would see alot of the less selective private schools, the ones with less name recognition dropping sticker prices, but that isn’t happening. Instead it has become a lottery for merit aid at such schools. </p>
<p>The cost of state schools have sharply increased as well, and for some states, it’s a travesty for those who cannot afford those amounts and have children who want a four year degree.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I have seen a price increase every single year, including this one.</p>