Administrative bloat at top schools

interesteddad · July 16, 2008, 8:08pm

You and your so-called “bloat” numbers shed no light on a a truly student-centered college.

Let me give you an example. We met the Dean of the College at Swarthmore’s orientation four years ago. My wife made some comment that would have only allowed the Dean to connect us to our daughter if he had read her essays. Without missing a beat, he said, “oh, you must be *'s mom. I loved her essay on .” Bloat in the Dean’s office? The Dean reads all the admissions essays of the incoming freshmen each summer. Bloat in the housing office? The Associate Dean of Housing takes all the freshman housing questionaires home and matches roommates on her kitchen table. The Deans don’t do anything at the College except interact with undergraduate students. The new Dean has set a personal goal of inviting every student to his house for dinner at least once during their four years at Swarthmore.

Do I think money spent on a complement of multicultural Deans so that every student cohort on campus feels like they have a stake in Swarthmore College is money well spent? You bet. That’s how you have one of the highest median SAT scores in the country and the third most diverse liberal arts college in the country (42% non-white or international, behind only Wellesley’s huge international enrollment and St. Francis in Brooklyn Heights) and one AND a 92% graduation rate. That’s an incredibly difficult trifecta and one that makes for a very rewarding campus culture. Bloat? I suppose. I mean, Swarthmore could just go lily-white and call it a day, but it is the 21st century.

Assistant Dept. Chairpeople? What’s that mean? At Swarthmore, all the tenured faculty take turns rotating as Department Chair. All full-time professors, tenured or not, get a full-paid semester leave after every six semesters of teaching. Most get a full year at full-pay. Bloat? Or is that how you keep a fully-engaged, fully-motivated, happy faculty?

More research opportunities? They have fully funded (HHMI) or endowed science summer research positions ($3750 stipend) for one out of every two science, math, and engineering majors. Want the college to pay for your summer sociology research in Africa? No sweat. There are endowed slots. Want a $3750 stipend for inner city community service in Boston? Yep. Endowed slots for summer community service. Good grief, they pay the writers on the student newspaper. 80% of the students have paid work study jobs. Bloat?

New dorm construction might bother students in a nearby dorm early in the morning or because they can’t open their windows due to construction dust? President’s Fund (yes, Institutional “bloat”) pays for room air conditioners and continental breakfast in the dorm for a couple months of construction.

Paying stipends and travel expenses to a couple hundred outside professors to visit campus in May and give oral and written exams, in each of four topics, to every Honors graduate (30% of the class). Bloat? Or a totally unique educational experience that has defined the school since the 1920s? Does oral exams with a panel of outside experts give Swarthmore students a totally unique leg up on graduate school?

That’s the thing. You are sittin’ there with lists of numbers, but no context, trying to tell paying customers what they should or should not be “thrilled” about. I’m telling you that I have never seen a more student-centered College in my life. Could we have found a college that spends less money per student? Yep. You betcha. Almost any of 'em. But, guess what? They would have charged us just as much money.

alGorescousin · July 17, 2008, 10:24am

WHEW!

lol.

I am not about picking at any particular college. Swarthmore is indeed a fine school and one of the most selective in the country, and apparently most diverse.

I could however state that having a high percentage of international students has a double edge to it: it means that many american students are not being admitted. But being a private college, Swarthmore can certainly do as it pleases in that regard and present itself as an international school rather than an american school. Just my observation. I see value in having international students on campus, but perhaps not to the degree that Swarthmore admits them. I would prefer that our own american students be given first opportunity. As for the “liberal” leave of absence/sabbatical leave policy for its profs, one can say that it helps them clear their heads and find new ideas etc, but one can also say it is a colossal waste of money and keeps expenses unnecessarily high.

It is nice to know that they do such a thorough job on applications and reading essays. I am NOT a big proponent of essays, since we all know that some students have tremendous outside help, even professional help in “crafting” them, stretching the notion of honest authorship to the extreme. Not saying of course your d had that problem, but you know it happens far too often.

I am a huge proponent of students doing their own “admissions” test for every college they consider and see if they fit there, see if they want that particular experience whether it be urban, rural, ethnic, religious, scientific, philosophical, geographical, whatever. For some, Swarthmore would be a perfect fit, but for others it would not be what they are looking for in a college experience.

Just the other day a rather well to do father of a kid in my neighborhood boasted that “college is about fraternities, parties, girl chasing…and the rest is just a bunch of crud (he used another term I cant print here).” Well, that is certainly a unique perspective (and one I certainly DONT share). But opinions are as varied as there are applications.

Paying travel expenses for visiting professors to lecture on campus or for Swarthmore (or pick your college) professors to travel and give “white papers” or lectures, or attend seminars to me can go from the sublime to the ridiculous if its out of control and becomes a high percentage of the expense budget on campus. Then again, if you know that going in and know what you are paying for, then who is harmed?

I just state matter of factly that colleges are terribly inefficient institutions. I dont suggest they should be run by and dominated by bean counters who have the paper clip police checking every paper clip that is missing on campus. But the egregious increase in college tuition and room and board expenses the last 10 years has made the dream of a “superior” college education for the middle class very daunting and leaves a lot of kids with few options except the local state university or even the community college because of financial limitations.

Very few colleges give 100% of need. And even so, the EFC is often a ludicrous number that makes people either fall out of their chairs laughing or collapsing in a heep of tears.

interesteddad · July 17, 2008, 3:11pm

algorescousin:

You should simply look for the college or university with the lowest expenditures per student you can find. That will come close to your ideals of a no-frills college education. Of couse, it is also possible that your college will have paltry price discounts and charge the highest net tuition, room, and board.

vonlost · July 17, 2008, 3:22pm

And if the net charges are low, you may happily get what you pay for! ;)

hoedown · July 17, 2008, 3:58pm

Well, let me take a stab at it.

Some of the items that make up the big parts of the budget in higher education are things that are going up a lot steeper than general inflation. Utilities, for example. Benefits, particularly health care costs (and we’re talking about a labor- and personnel-intensive enterprise).

Also, the technology costs at colleges and universities are demanding, and unlike a lot of industries, those investments generally don’t enhance productivity or cut jobs or create other efficiencies that recoup the costs. They might enhance education (which is why they invest in them) but they don’t increase revenue.

Another factor is the role of institutions as depositories of knowledge. Colleges and universities can’t just embrace new knowledge and discard the old–they have to keep it all. The body of knowledge is always increasing, and they are expected to maintain it through library holdings, museums, staff and scholarly expertise, and so on.

All these things push costs (and tuition) up in ways that may not be typical in certain other industries.

vonlost · July 17, 2008, 4:46pm

Additionally, some items from our D’s school’s website, posted in 2006 (I’d guess these issues apply to most small schools):

“Over the past decade, the Reed College tuition has increased from $22,180 to $34,300. That’s a nominal increase of 55% and an inflation-adjusted increase of 22%. And that’s just the price. The cost of a Reed education (what we spend per student per year on the educational program, excluding living expenses and financial aid) is now $36,726, up 78% in 10 years (40% in real terms).”

“A major reason is the fact that education is subject to a higher rate of inflation than industries able to shift costs off shore or achieve major savings by automation.”

“10 years ago Reed’s institutional financial aid grants satisfied 64% of an average student’s need. Today, that figure has grown to 81%.”

“Over the past decade, the percentage of Reed students receiving scholarship awards has increased from 48% to 52%, and the average institutional grant per scholarship student has grown from $12,998 to $25,057.”

Administrative bloat at top schools

CONNECT WITH US