UC tuition hikes? First justify your administrative bloat

The leaders of the University of California system — unsatisfied with funding provided by Gov. Jerry Brown and the state Legislature and interested in ambitious new initiatives — are seeking significant tuition hikes. For the 2017-18 school year, the 10-campus UC system wants a 2.5 percent increase in in-state tuition, to $11,502, and a 5 percent increase in the student services fee, to $1,128.

But the governor and lawmakers should oppose any increases until they get meaningful answers to a meaty question: How does the UC system justify the explosion in its number of administrators?

In 2000, according to a 2015 Los Angeles Times report, UC had about 50 percent more faculty members than administrators and managers. But the number of administrators and managers passed the number of faculty in 2011, and, as of 2015, there were 10,539 administrators and managers and 8,899 tenured or tenure-track faculty. By contrast, in 2014, in the 23-campus California State University system, there were 10,099 tenured or tenure-track faculty and 3,726 administrators and managers, according to a California Faculty Association study.

So UC needs nearly three times as many administrators for its 238,000 students than CSU does for its 460,000? Why? UC officials say the biggest growth has been in UC’s self-supporting system of medical centers. They also say increased enrollment has required adding administrators and managers. But that still doesn’t explain why UC needs more than twice as many such officials now as it did in 2000.

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[Source]: San Diego Union-Tribune