Universities Are Spending Like Crazy To Grow Their Bureaucracies, And Students Are Footing The Bill, Analysis Finds

Public universities across the United States are spending money to increase their workforce and then passing the bill along to students, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.

Since 2002, the average flagship university’s spending rose 38%, with a majority of the money being spent on salaries and benefits, which rose by 40% in the same time period, according to an analysis by the WSJ. However, the average tuition cost per student rose 64% to cover the costs of salaries and benefits in the same time period.

For example, from 2017 to 2022, the University of Florida about doubled the number of directors, associate directors or assistant directors of communications it had, the WSJ reported. During the 2022-2023 school year, the university employed 130 more assistant deans, associate deans, executive deans and other types of deans than it did in 2017.