It’s not hard to find examples of the uneven implementation and consequences of austerity. A great study out last week by the Institute of Policy Studies looks at several indicators at public universities and finds some interesting correlations.
The student debt crisis is worse at state schools with the highest-paid presidents. The sharpest rise in student debt at the top 25 occurred when executive compensation soared the highest.
As students went deeper in debt, administrative spending outstripped scholarship spending by more than 2 to 1 at state schools with the highest-paid presidents.
At state schools with the highest-paid presidents, part-time adjunct faculty increased 22 percent faster than the national average at all universities.
At state schools with the highest-paid presidents, permanent faculty declined dramatically as a percentage of all faculty. By fall 2009, part-time and contingent faculty at the top 25 outnumbered permanent faculty for the first time.
Average executive pay at the top 25 rose to nearly $1 million by 2012 — increasing more than twice as fast as the national average at public research universities.
It’s fair to say these trends exist at all universities, so these institutions are failing an already low bar. My experience at Berkeley makes these findings all to hard to believe.
Report available here.
Even the NYT editorial board picked up the story:
The report also noted that, like executives in the banking sectors, “public university presidents weathered the immediate aftermath of the fall 2008 financial crisis with minimal or no reductions in total compensation.
Read: Fat-Cat Administrators at the Top 25 – NYTimes.com.