> [he] described an expanding and self-replicating bureaucracy that is growing ever more expensive to maintain
This seems to me a key piece of the problem. Rises in tuition have massively out-paced inflation while salaries for tenured professors have not seen anything even close to that kind of growth in the same time period. In fact most institutions actually employ fewer full-time faculty than they did 20 or 30 years ago. The answer to the question "where is all this money going?" doesn't have a mono-causal explanation, but an ever-expanding self-perpetuating bureaucracy is a significant factor. And it's not just academia; I've heard similar concerns from physician-acquaintances about healthcare. The astonishing growth of middle and executive managers at Johns Hopkins has been an ongoing topic of discussion with department-chair friend of mine for years.
I think we've barely begun to reckon with the costs the MBA-ification of major institutions has had on the overall welfare of the US public.
This seems to me a key piece of the problem. Rises in tuition have massively out-paced inflation while salaries for tenured professors have not seen anything even close to that kind of growth in the same time period. In fact most institutions actually employ fewer full-time faculty than they did 20 or 30 years ago. The answer to the question "where is all this money going?" doesn't have a mono-causal explanation, but an ever-expanding self-perpetuating bureaucracy is a significant factor. And it's not just academia; I've heard similar concerns from physician-acquaintances about healthcare. The astonishing growth of middle and executive managers at Johns Hopkins has been an ongoing topic of discussion with department-chair friend of mine for years.
I think we've barely begun to reckon with the costs the MBA-ification of major institutions has had on the overall welfare of the US public.