Higher Ed’s ‘Mission Corrupted’: Adam Andrzejewski Contributor….See note please
http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2014/09/25/higher-eds-mission-corrupted/
Adam Andrzejewski is the founder of OpenTheBooks.com a project of American Transparency 501(c)3. a unique organization that sheds light on fraud and corruption. Visit the site and interactive map….rsk
Salary spending is up 2.5 times with additional billions of dollars spent on a building binge, but IL student enrollment is flat since 2000. Is this a higher educational system or a jobs farm and patronage pool?
Here is what’s wrong with higher ed.
Over thirteen years, Illinois colleges and universities vastly increased the size of their payrolls, spent lavishly on salaries and benefits, and expended billions on construction, but have yet to see a measurable increase in students. Since 2000, enrollments are up just one third of one percent annually (4.28% total).
With tuition rates becoming unaffordable for lower and middle class students, high property taxes forcing homeowners into foreclosure, and student loan debt headlining the national news, many are wondering, “what’s the matter with higher education?”
Here are some of our findings from the Land of Lincoln:
Student enrollment flat. Enrollment was 542,450 (2000) and 566,198 (2012)- a slight .3367% average annual increase (1/3 of 1 percent per year). Source: OpenTheBooks.com
Employment explosion. 51,439 system wide employees (2000) to 90,589 employees (2013)- employment outpaced enrollment by 17x.
Gross salary spike. $1.817 billion total payroll (2000) vs. $4.4 billion in total payroll (2013)- payroll grew 36x faster than enrollment. Click here to see annual totals by institution.
Binge Building boom. Net assignable square footage was 14.756 million (2000) vs 18.144 million (2012) for community colleges and 37.176 million (2000) vs 45.085 million (2009, last year available) for universities – that’s more than 6x the pace of enrollment. Source: Illinois Community College Board and Illinois Board of Higher Education.
Spending abuse: at College of DuPage (COD), an Illinois community college, watch a video tour of their wine cellar within their upscale French restaurant. Enrollment is down over 5,000 students over the last 14 years.
A poster bad-boy example of mis-allocation of educational resources is my own community college, College of DuPage (COD). Recently in Forbes, I wrote the piece “$26 Million Selfie at IL Jr College” about the excesses at this school. Property taxes and student tuition hikes, $26 million in hidden payment spending, lavish executive compensation, a wine cellar, an upscale French restaurant, high executive comp and more are amongst the recent headlines.
The rest of Illinois higher education is not far behind COD. The payroll of our flagship University of Illinois campuses increased from 15,778 employees to 28,812 employees (82.6%) over thirteen years while student enrollment increased by 14.8%. Currently construction cranes are erecting buildings on the Champaign campus and the tuition ($31,000) exceeds every Big Ten university except Northwestern.
Massive employee expansion coupled with exponential salary growth and “construction for constructions sake” has led to the overhang of student debt, property tax spikes, unfunded pension liabilities, and long-term taxpayer debt obligations.
The State University Pension System (SURS) is under-funded by $20 billion. The Institute of Government & Public Affairs at University of Illinois said, “Each passing day without pension reform threatens the excellence of higher ed…”
At most Illinois community colleges, student loan default rates average 18%. Nationally, student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt.
Illinois property taxes are now the sixth highest in the nation. Community colleges are 50% or more funded by local property taxes.
In 2010, College of DuPage passed a $168 million bond referendum. Because a “bond shelf” was created, generations of taxpayers will pay debt service.
Don’t taxpayers have veto power over the colleges?
In 2010, the “No Property Tax Rate Increase” bond referendum at the College of DuPage is an infamous example of election manipulation. COD executives established a political action committee, then tens of thousands of dollars of contributions flowed from the college’s vendors who eventually received the contracts from the bond proceeds, and the college’s charitable foundation hawked the election with multiple full-page ads in the local newspapers. Despite the “no tax rate increase” pledge, sixteen days after passage, the board hiked the property tax rate by over 3%.
How is it legal? Were public and charitable funds used for political purposes? Is it vendor pay-to-play if campaign cash and loans are rewarded with contracts- with some at no-bid?
Until citizens demand better from higher education establishments, the “legalized money laundering” system of exponentially more employees, salary spiking, and patronage construction spending will continue. The current and next generation of young students will bear the brunt of the corruption.
To see how local Illinois colleges and universities stacked up on salaries and pensions (2000-2014), view our SNAPSHOT™ Transparency IL Colleges & Universities.
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