Higher Education

Tuition Hikes and Non-instructional Overhead

September 17, 2015

J. Scott Moody, Wendy Warcholik, Ph.D.

Students across Oklahoma have returned to college campuses, and many are feeling the pinch from higher tuition costs. Higher education officials often blame tuition hikes on reduced state appropriations, but could there be other factors in play?

Because Oklahoma’s university system receives state financing, the U.S. Census Bureau keeps track of all types of data on the system. The nearby chart uses Census data to examine the dramatic size and growth in the number of non-instructional workers (per 100 private-sector workers) in Oklahoma’s university system. There are two major points to be gleaned from this chart.

First, Oklahoma’s university system employs 2.72 non-instructional workers—which is a whopping 82 percent higher than the national average and is the 3rd highest level in the country for 2013 (the latest data available).

Secondly, and even more troubling, the linear growth line shows that the rate of growth in non-instructional workers is higher than the national average.

Overall, this chart strongly suggests that Oklahoma’s policymakers must demand a thorough accounting from university officials as to why the state diverges not only in the size of its non-instructional workforce, but also why it continues to grow faster than the national average.