[Fomite]

Most universities do not have "hedge fund" class endowments.

It should also be noted that there are reasons tuition is the way it is. State allocations for higher ed were slashed in 2008, and didn't really get put back even when the economy was doing well. Similarly, federal research dollars (which fund the vast bulk of research, not tuition) has been pretty flat for decades (the amount of a non-modular NIH R01, for example, hasn't changed since the Clinton administration).

Tuition is the only lever left to most institutions.

[TimTheTinker]

> Tuition is the only lever left to most institutions.

No, cutting costs (especially slashing the administration and facility budget) is another lever that few institutions use. The other really important levers are professor hiring and pay, and admissions standards.

Build a reputation for hiring a great faculty, paying them well, keeping a minimal administration, and cultivating a student body that is hungry to learn, and the right people will come. Everything else is mostly fluff with regard to a quality education.

[Fomite]

The idea that universities have not been under continuous budget cuts is one out of step with my experience.

[TimTheTinker]

Have a look at the average admin headcount per student in 1995 vs 2025. It has grown to be the largest department by far of modern US universities (and a lot of places in Europe as well, unfortunately) - usually significantly larger and more well-paid than the faculty.

In one extreme example, I heard the ratio of student:admin is nearly 1:1. That is bonkers.

And no - administration employees don't need to justify their ongoing employment by constantly publishing new research in academic journals. For them, the gravy just keeps rolling in. Just keep increasing tuition, increasing the endowment fund (often through real estate deals and other hedge fund like activity), increasing donations, increasing their own budget, and threatening to cut research & academic department budgets.

Yes, academic and research departments have often had budget cuts. But expenditures per student are way up to pay academic administration salary.

(If I sound angry, it's because I am. MBA types have caused so much harm to these institutions.)