Costs

American colleges and universities spend billions of dollars a year from state, federal, and private sources. The following articles identify ways to cut costs and ensure that public investment in higher education provides value to students, taxpayers, and society.

Two Studies Agree – UNC Governance Should be Changed

Aug 31, 2006 ·

In one of his earliest political speeches in 1964, Ronald Reagan said, “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.”

Reagan’s point was that governmental structures hardly ever are abolished. And it’s almost as rare for them to be reduced in size. That is pertinent when considering the University of North Carolina Board of Governors (BOG). At 32 members, it is the largest state university governing board in the nation.

Last year, the Pope Center, in conjunction with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) released a study written by Phyllis Palmiero, an expert in the administration of higher education. That paper, “Governance in the Public Interest,” concluded among other things that the UNC BOG is too large and ought to be selected by the governor rather than through an arcane legislative process.

NCSU Manager Fired after Audit

Aug 30, 2006 ·

RALEIGH — A project manager at North Carolina State University was fired after he received compensation from contracts that he was responsible for administering, according to a report released Monday by the Office of the State Auditor.

The project manager, who was unnamed in the auditor’s report, was also involved in submitting a bid by a company he managed on the side, interacting with other companies that submitted bids to NCSU, selling equipment to those companies from his own organization, all of which are violations of state law, according to the audit. According to the state General Statutes, no employee may receive a direct benefit from a contract in which the employee is responsible for the administration of the contract.

The case has been sent to the 10th Prosecutorial District for review and possible criminal charges. In his response to the audit’s findings, Chancellor James Oblinger said the project manager was fired in May.

The Student Fee System Sets a Bad Example

Aug 24, 2006 ·

The new college school year has begun and the many student groups either have held or soon will hold their initial meetings. There is nothing objectionable about students with like interests getting together to pursue them, any more than for residents of a subdivision who like playing bridge, for example, to get together for a few hands. Unfortunately, student groups don’t rely entirely on money that comes from willing participants and there is something objectionable about that.

At each of the institutions of the UNC system, students are assessed, in addition to their payments for tuition, mandatory “student activity fees.” Some of the money thus collected goes toward the expense of running the student union, student TV and radio stations and similar services that are available to all and would be difficult to charge for on an individual basis. The rest of the money is distributed by the school’s student congress to various campus groups that have requested funding.

Bowles makes cuts to streamline UNC administration

Aug 10, 2006 ·

CHAPEL HILL – When Erskine Bowles, the business executive who had served as President Clinton’s chief of staff, took over the UNC system in January, he proposed a visionary agenda that would dictate his activities. Among the top priorities was running the organization more effectively and through the prism of his business experiences.

In the past week, we’ve seen some of the results of that agenda. Bowles announced last week that he plans to cut 10 percent, or $1.3 million, from the UNC General Administration budget. The move would eliminate 15.5 positions, half of which are currently filled, including four vice presidents and six associate vice presidents. However, when taking into account three new positions created by Bowles earlier this year, the net reduction of the cut is 12.5 positions.

Higher education is very high in labor cost and approximately 80 percent of the UNC General Administration budget in the past has gone towards personnel.

Higher ed benefits from budget surplus

Aug 1, 2006 ·

CHAPEL HILL — Higher-education institutions in North Carolina received a significant increase in funding this year as legislators approved adjustments to the fiscal 2007 budget. Gov. Mike Easley called it one of the best education budgets he has seen.

The budget adjustments were approved a few days after the start of the fiscal year and signed into law July 10. UNC’s budget was increased by $128 million to take its total appropriation to $2.2 billion. Community colleges received a funding increase of $64 million to take their total budget to more than $831 million.

The increase in education spending, when including the Department of Public Instruction, was $1.4 billion. Increases in education spending would help economic development efforts in the state, Easley said.

Drafts give glimpses into higher education report

Jul 20, 2006 ·

Higher education institutions in the United States must improve in “a drastic way,” according to a draft version of the commission that has been given the task of assessing American higher education and its future. The final version of the report is expected sometime in August, but even the draft has sparked great interest.

The draft has been circulating since the end of June and is seen as a glimpse into the recommendations that will be included in the final version. The report is being produced by a national committee initiated by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Among the members of the commission is former North Carolina governor Jim Hunt.

A second draft has begun to circulate. Missing from the second draft are some of the more hard-hitting criticisms of the current higher education system.

John Edwards wants “greater access to college” – good policy or bad?

Jul 13, 2006 ·

In an interview published in the July 7th The Chronicle of Higher Education, former North Carolina senator John Edwards set forth his views on higher education, arguing in favor of federal policies to make college education nearly as universal as K-12 is, with the government picking up the expense for students who can’t afford it.

Let’s take a look at his arguments, which are similar to those of former governor Jim Hunt and others who think that the country needs to “invest” more in higher education.

The first question from the interviewer asked how important a college education is for the poorest students to succeed. Edwards replied, “It’s everything….Education is absolutely critical…and that’s going to be more intensely true going forward than it is today….”

From the home office in Chapel Hill, the top 15 pork barrel higher education projects

Jul 6, 2006 ·

At some point today, legislators will give final approval to the budget compromise that was hatched out before the Fourth of July weekend. It marks the end of the budget process that began in May and extended just days past the start of the 2007 fiscal year.

Like any governmental budget, this one has enough pork to make a pig farmer smile. This year’s higher education budget contains many generous helpings.

In honor of the passage of the state budget, the Pope Center unveils its list of the top 15 pork barrel projects. We determined projects for the list based on two questions. Is the project really needed? Should it be privately funded? While some of the projects in the list seem worthwhile, it would be better if they were funded through voluntary contributions.

So without further adoo and in true David Letterman style, from the home office on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, here is this year’s “Top 15 Higher Education Pork Barrel Projects.”

Does America need a National University?

Jun 29, 2006 ·

An idea dating from 1789 has recently been resurrected – the creation of a national university for the United States. George Washington proposed exactly that in his first inaugural address and two young idealists have now set up an organization that will push for the creation of such a university.

Writing in the June 16th Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required), Chris Myers Asch, chairman of the Campaign for a U.S. Service Academy argues that the U.S. needs to have a national university “designed to cultivate a steady flow of first-rate young leaders dedicated to civic leadership.” (Another article on the subject is available here.) Asch and Shawn Raymond, both of whom taught in the Teach for America program and subsequently founded a non-profit group to provide after-school tutoring to low-income students, are promoting the establishment of a United States Public Service Academy because they think it’s time to “tap into a renewed sense of patriotism and civic obligation among young people.”