Scope and Administrative Bloat at Universities  This topic came
up at lunch yesterday with Tyler Cowen. Could universities cut
costs by firing half of their administrators?  I argued that
administrators did not just descend on universities like a
plague of locusts. In the economy as a whole, the ratio of
middle managers to production workers is rising. You can see
this by looking at the ratio of white collar workers to
production workers in specific industries, such as automobiles.
What if a university unbundled its non-academic activities?
Instead of using tuition to subsidize athletics, social events,
and clubs, make students pay to participate in each of these
activities. My guess is that participation would plummet.
Students would find less costly ways to socialize.  If you want
to reduce administrative overhead, you have to think in terms of
radically reducing scope.  8 thoughts on “Scope and
Administrative Bloat at Universities    1. I do wonder how the
budget process for these myriad programs affec