Payroll Project
To do this story our reporters examined 10 years of federal higher education data. To see how much local professors and administrators make at seven public colleges and universities, go to I-Team: Payroll Project on our premium website mydaytondailynews.com.
Soaring compensation for college presidents and high-profile coaches has fueled public backlash in recent years, but those costs aren’t alone in contributing to a double-digit increase in the payrolls of Ohio’s public colleges and universities.
An I-Team analysis found that the payroll for 14 Ohio public universities grew by nearly $1.4 billion over the past decade to $4.6 billion in 2013. That is an increase of more than 40 percent, or 12 percent when adjusted for inflation.
Pay for vice presidents, deans and lower-level administrators has swelled — contributing, experts say, to inflated tuition and taxpayer expense.
Critics have a name for it: administrative bloat.
The largest spike came in institutional support, or administrative jobs, which grew 25 percent with inflation. Instructional payroll and benefits also increased, though by a more modest 11 percent.
At Ohio State University, more than 1,100 of 31,000 employees have the word director in their title. Another 95 titles include the word president; 99 include the word dean.
Higher education experts say bloat extends beyond the upper ranks. Other non-teaching posts also have ballooned — from employees who provide student services and maintain IT systems to those in charge of a growing network of campus buildings.
“All this spending on administration amounts to an administrative tax on students,” said John McNay, president of the Ohio Conference Association of University Professors union.
Inflation-adjusted payroll grew at almost every local college from 2003 to 2013, according to the most recent data available, including a 31 percent jump at Clark State Community College.
Payroll increased by 28 percent at Cedarville University, 25 percent at Central State University, 24 percent at the University of Dayton, 13 percent at Wright State University and 7 percent at Sinclair Community College.
Joe Jackson, Clark State’s vice president for business affairs, said health care costs increased dramatically over the decade and the school’s enrollment grew 66 percent during that time period.
“In order to provide the appropriate academic and student support services to assist students in being successful, it was necessary to increase the college’s investment in faculty, staff and other instructional resources,” Jackson said.
Some schools’ payroll grew slower than inflation. Miami University’s main campus in Oxford, for example, had a 13 percent reduction in its payroll.
More services
Decreased state support and higher administrative and instructional payroll are the biggest contributors to the ballooning costs of a college education, according to a report from Demos, a left-leaning think tank.
For the majority of Ohio schools, the largest payroll increases took place within the administrative ranks. For instance, Ohio State’s administrative payroll swelled 53 percent compared to a 22 percent jump in total payroll.
But while payroll costs of deans and vice presidents have outpaced pay for instructors, it’s not always the case. At Wright State, administrators’ pay dropped 9 percent while instructional costs jumped nearly 18 percent.
Sara Goldrick-Rab, professor of education policy studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said studies have repeatedly found swollen administrative costs nationwide.
“It could be fat, but it also could be that the students enrolling are either in need of, or demanding, more services,” she said.
The 10 years of data used for this analysis are self-reported by universities, meaning comparing colleges has risks because some may list certain positions under instructional payroll, while others may label them administrative.
But the bloat, say experts, is easy to see.
“Administrators like to hire other administrators to assist them, so instead of just having a dean, we need an associate dean and the associate dean needs an assistant dean,” said Richard Vedder, an economics professor at Ohio University who specializes in higher education.
Costly regulations
University officials concede that administrative ranks have grown, but they say that largely is due to increased federal regulations requiring more people to monitor compliance.
Earlier this year, Vanderbilt University released a study saying it spends $150 million per year complying with federal regulations. That’s more than 10 percent of its total budget.
While the Vanderbilt study has received criticism within higher education circles, area public college and university administrators said federal regulations have added to their expenses.
“As we have a wide variety of regulations, most of which are totally appropriate, we find there are layers of oversight that we’re required to have to be able to comply with those regulations in our laboratory research or athletic compliance,” said Ohio State University President Michael Drake.
Apart from federal regulations, college officials say state regulations and requirements from third-party accreditation groups have added to payroll.
“The number of compliances have exploded,” said Steven Johnson, president of Sinclair.
Johnson said some schools have higher salaries because of program offerings. Sinclair offers a high number of technical programs, which are more expensive, he said.
OSU cuts after Gee
Ohio State’s 2014 payroll included six people who made more than $1 million, with three sports coaches or administrators leading the way. They were followed by three medical school professors. More than 100 OSU employees grossed in excess of $500,000, and more than 4,500 brought in six figures.
Drake took the helm of Ohio State last year, replacing Gordon Gee — a president who over a five-year span racked up nearly $8 million in expenses, on top of more than $8 million in salary and compensation.
Gee gained a reputation as a free spender, traveling via charter jet with an entourage, hosting parties for donors and dignitaries and buying adornments for the presidential mansion, including a $530 shower curtain. This newspaper was the first to document those administrative costs.
Last year, Drake reduced the president’s office expenses by 17 percent compared to the average of the last two years Gee was in office. That brought the budget down to $3.8 million.
University records show Drake trimmed spending for gifts, special meals, pre-game celebrations, special events staff and maintenance of the presidential mansion. But the biggest reduction came from not using charter jets.
“When Michael Drake travels, for the most part he gets on United Airlines and travels commercial,” said OSU spokesman Chris Davey.
Drake said administrative payroll is just one area where he is looking for his staff to cut costs: “We are looking to all of our senior leaders to have a decrease in their overall budgets this year, and a place where we expect them to be able to squeeze is to squeeze out things that are not particularly efficient.”
Students want more
A handful of colleges blame at least some of the growth in administrative costs on students and parents who are looking for more — from increased campus police, better housing and recreational centers, to campus intervention into sexual assaults.
“Analyzing the number (of employees) and compensation is fair game. The costs have undeniably gone up,” said Santa Ono, president of the University of Cincinnati.
But Ono said cutting some of those costs — such as in the area of student affairs, which includes financial aid and job placement — can hurt graduation numbers. A 2009 study by researchers at Cornell University found that in some instances graduation rates are linked to expenditures on students services.
“I think the university is no longer viewed as where grown-ups go to get education,” said Bruce Johnson, CEO of the Inter-University Council of Ohio. “It’s now viewed as where mom and dad send their kids. Now (colleges) are parents, and have to make sure students get to their doctor appointments.”
The AAUP’s McNay believes administrative bloat is one of the top drivers of college costs, coming in second to reduced state support.
“It would be nice if instead they used all this money they are blowing on new construction, building office palaces and new sports buildings, if they used that to lower tuition,” said McNay, a history professor at UC.
“Wouldn’t it be great if they were competing not on climbing walls, but on lowering tuition?”
Faculty costs
Some say the faculty are not blameless in ballooning college costs. The newspaper’s study also found instructional payroll has outpaced inflation.
“A typical faculty member today probably teaches fewer courses than 40, 50 years ago,” Ohio University’s Vedder said. “I think the faculty play some role in the problem. I don’t think they’re the big, single dominant cause of the high-cost explosion problem, but they’re not sinless.”
Vedder believes a larger driver is the federal student loan program that has made it too easy for colleges and universities to charge exorbitant fees knowing that the federal government will make easy, taxpayer-backed credit available to students.
Ohio State president Drake said college affordability is a major concern for him, and to the extent that costs are driven by increasing administration he would like to see some regulatory changes.
“We understand the need for regulation, but we want it to be streamlined,” he said.
Some of the regulations reflect the increasingly complex nature of universities: OSU has a hospital, a nuclear facility, it issues debt, does research on smallpox, performs tests on humans and animals and has facilities in China and at the South Pole.
“The scope of activities we have that is subject to regulation is very expansive,” said university spokesman Chris Davey, estimating the cost at hundreds of millions of dollars. “Ohio State is the largest university in what is probably the most regulated part of the economy: higher education.”
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