College leaders love spending money. Since they run nonprofit institutions, they don’t worry about “bottom line” efficiency, but instead about things that enhance school prestige and make themselves feel good. Of course, they try to make it sound as though all that spending is socially useful.
In a new book, a university official presents his analysis of what drives university spending, and I review it for the Martin Center today.
The book is The University Unfettered by Ian F. McNeely. He held both faculty and administrative positions at a state flagship university whose identity he does not disclose but admits that readers who want to know can figure it out from details he includes.
McNeely does not hide his progressive philosophy. He laments public “disinvestment” from state universities (which I see as putting more of the expense where it belongs — with the students) and cheers the moves toward “social justice” by enrolling more minority students.
Among the “crises” facing the university was the possible loss of membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU) because the school wasn’t cranking out as much research as was expected. So the school put resources into hiring more faculty who would enhance its research profile. That was good for the university’s prestige, but hardly an ideal use of university money. McNeely does, at least, see the waste involved there.
Summing up, “My takeaway from The University Unfettered is that it doesn’t much matter how our colleges and universities are funded — by tax dollars, tuition, or philanthropy. As long as they are non-profit entities run by administrators who can lavish money on prestige and their feel-good obsessions, we will spend too much for too little educational value.”