The Facts

  • THECB reports that from 2003-09, statewide average academic charges for a student taking 15 semester credit hours at a public university increased 72%.
  • According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 57% of potential students say that the higher education system fails to provide good value for the cost, and 75% say college is unaffordable.
  • “Forty years ago,” reports Benjamin Ginsberg, “U.S. colleges employed more faculty than administrators. But today, teachers make up less than half of college employees.” 
  • According to the Higher Education Employment Report, “colleges and universities continued to focus more on hiring administrators and executives over faculty in Q1 2012, although the rate of change has slowed.”

 

Recommendations

  • Require all public institutions to increase aggregate credit hours taught by tenured and tenure-track faculty by 10%.
  • Reduce the administrative staff budget for all colleges and universities by 10%.
  • Expand the online-degree rider, added to HB 1 in 2011. The rider requires colleges and universities to submit cost studies of the four most popular degree plans that can be offered online. These studies should be expanded to include all STEM courses not covered by the first study, plus all lecture courses in all fields.
  • Require all public institutions of higher education to submit to THECB feasibility studies for crafting $10,000 degrees in their four most popular degree plans as well as for all degrees they offer in STEM subjects.
  • Place a two-year moratorium on all new building projects, to take advantage of the increasing popularity of online courses.
  • Require all non-Tier I public institutions to submit to THECB feasibility studies for changing the academic calendar to three semesters a year. A three-semester calendar will allow for a more efficient use of university resources. Employing campus facilities year-round will reduce the relative per-student cost.