With the recent rise in tuition at Wake Forest, many are left wondering simply, why? Why has the cost of college gotten so high that a steadily increasing number of Americans can no longer afford it? What has changed over the past year that requires more money? Part of the answer may be working in Reynolda Hall.

Graphic by Daniel Schwindt/Old Gold & Black

A burgeoning concept which explains the upsurge in tuition at universities across the country is called “administrative bloat.” Just as it sounds, administrative bloat is an increase in the number of school administrators disproportional to the number of students and faculty.

As with any increase in hiring, salaries must be paid and thus “outside the classroom” fees for students to pay increases as well. Recently, the Wall Street Journal did an investigation into the world of administrative bloat. According to an article published Dec. 28, 2012, titled “Dean’s List: Hiring Spree Fattens College Bureaucracy — and Tuition,” individuals on the payroll at the University of Minnesota numbered beyond 19,000, or nearly one for every three and a half students.

“Many of the newly hired, it turns out, were doing little teaching. […] Records from 2001 through last spring shows that the system added more than 1,000 administrators over that period,” the article by Douglas Belkin and Scott Thurm reads. “Their ranks grew 37 percent, more than twice as fast as the teaching corps and nearly twice as fast as the student body.”

This increase in the number of non-faculty employees has a direct correlation to the average cost of tuition, which has risen even faster than healthcare costs.

The Goldwater Institute also released a corroborating report on Aug. 17, 2010, titled “Administrative Bloat at American Universities: The Real Reason for High Costs in Higher Education,” which concluded that the increased hiring of administrators is the direct cause of greater tuition.

This raises the question of whether administrative bloat exists on the Wake Forest campus. Carmen Canales, Chief Human Resources Officer at Wake Forest, says that there was 224 “executive or administrative staff” working at the university in 2011-12, the last year with published data. She goes on to define an administrator as an individual whose “primary function is to support the university in a capacity outside of the classroom.” She also highlighted the fact that there are a number of administrators that serve campus in both faculty and staff roles.

“Wake Forest University seeks a diverse talent pool of candidates with broad experience and proven results, who will support the spirit of Pro Humanitate, and who will support our current and future campus community,” Canales said.

Regarding the hiring process for administrators at the university, Canales says that hiring is done via a search committee comprised primarily of faculty and sometimes involving students or senior administrators. Administrator searches may involve an advisory search committee, an external search firm, or direct contact with qualified candidates through position postings.

“As universities grow their student populations, administrators are needed to support program enhancements in the realm of student life and personal and career development, to ensure students have the appropriate resources throughout their university experience, and are placed successfully upon graduation,” Canales said.

“We are aware of concerns expressed on campuses nationwide about administrative growth, and part of the Strategic Resources Initiative process involves taking a close look at administrative positions across our campus.” The Strategic Resources Initiative was launched last fall, with the charge of assessing the opportunities to capture funds through “greater efficiency, collaboration and practical solutions.”

“You have to ask the question, ‘why is this massive increase happening?’,” Richard Vedder, professor of economics emeritus at Ohio University and author of Going Broke by Degree: Why Colleges Cost So Much, said. “We haven’t seen a double in the faculty over the years, just the administrative world. What is different about a university today that wasn’t there 30 or 40 years ago? In my judgment, most of its increase is as a result of decisions by universities to simply add staff.”

Much of the increase in administrators stems from a growth in the “bureaucracy” — for example, study abroad programs, university advancement and public relations, alumni relations, career development offices and larger admissions operations, to name a few — which didn’t exist in previous decades.

“The problem is bigger in private schools than in public schools, because they have had a larger increase in spending over recent years,” Vedder said. “To me, the litmus test is if you were to get rid of a certain percent of your administrators, could the school function as well as it does now? Would the educational experience be worse if you had five people in the office of alumni relations rather than 15?”

Vedder states that most universities “could cut 10 to 20 percent of their administrative staff without harming the institution.” The solution he proposed was either to put a freeze on hiring for administrative positions or, a less savory option, to let go of 5 to 10 percent of administrative positions per year.

Many students on campus do not know about the threat of administrative bloat on our campus.

“I wouldn’t say there is too many staff, and I haven’t had to wait too long at places so I don’t really know if it is a problem,” sophomore Robyn Lessens said.

Other students propose other options, especially when it comes to tuition dollars.

“I didn’t even realize there were so many administrators per student,” junior Amelia Fatsi said. “I don’t notice them that much. It upsetting that it might be part of our tuition that pays for them and they may be unnecessary. I thought that with the economy there would be less hiring. Also, what if those positions were to become student jobs?” Fatsi asked.

“Whenever I encounter administrators, they seem helpful,” sophomore Olivia Perkins-Mackey said. “I don’t like that it comes out of the tuition we pay for though. Are the administrators used to their fullest capacity? Do we really use all of them?”