Why does higher education cost so much?

I teach at a land grant university. These were universities created originally under the 1862 Morrill Act. The Act gave the states land to create colleges that taught agriculture and mechanical arts. If you are interested in the history of land grant colleges, it can be found here: https://www.nap.edu/read/4980/chapter/2.

I started thinking about this because United States universities have lost their way. They have become very expensive. When students graduate with over $100,000 in student debt, there is something wrong. What is wrong is very apparent when you look at the organization of the university. 50 years ago, the primary purpose of the university was education. Yes, I can speak authoritatively about this because I graduated with an engineering degree 50 years ago next month. Students were expected to do homework and were given work that would require two to three hours of effort for every hour in class. But the biggest difference is the number of administrative employees of the university. 50 years ago, the ratio of administrative and staff employees to teaching faculty was 1:1 or less. We had more faculty than staff and many administrators taught classes. The college deans taught classes. I took a class that was taught by the head of the math department.

Today, Deans attempt to raise money from alumni and don’t teach. The ratio of administrative personnel to faculty is more than 3:1. The administrative structure is very hierarchical, meaning that oftentimes, an administrator has only two or three direct reports. Thirty years ago, industrial organizations started working toward a flat organization. The result was each administrator/manager had 8 to 12 direct reports. The flatter organization gained by giving the people doing the work the authority to do the work with minimal oversite. There were significant cost savings. More tomorrow on the cost of higher education.