North Dakota Sees Largest Growth In Higher Ed Spending In The Nation

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Written By:
Rob Port

Oct 28, 2012
1:41pm

This map comes from a Time magazine article which, unfortunately, isn’t available online. While I can’t link the whole article, I thought I’d share the map which shows the state of North Dakota with the largest increase in higher education spending in the nation (adjusted per-capita):

How did tiny North Dakota get here? Here are some data points to help explain.

First, consider that while spending on the university system will have grown 91% since the 2003-05 biennium (if the higher ed folks get their full budget request this upcoming session), full time equivalent enrollment has grown just 11.5% through the present year:

Second, while instructional employees at the universities have grown just 3.54% since the 2003-05 biennium, non-instructional employees (adminsitrators, etc.) have grown 40%:

Third, pay for university presidents grew dramatically over the last decade:

Fourth, faculty pay wasn’t far behind. According to a review by the Chronicle of Higher Education, faculty members have received big pay increases, especially at the state’s largest schools. Since 2000, the average full professor at NDSU has seen a $42,500 increase in pay. The average associate professor has seen a $27,100 increase during that same time, and assistant professors have gotten a $15,700 bump in pay.

At UND, pay for those positions has increased $40,200, $33,200 and $25,100 respectively over the same time period.

So, what we have is spending on our universities growing several times faster than enrollment. We also have non-teaching employment at our universities growing much faster than enrollment, and pay for faculty and administrators alike going through the roof.

Add all that together, and that’s how one of the least populated states in the nation can increase higher education spending more than any other state.

Something to keep in mind as the higher education officials make their cases for needing yet another budget increase for the coming biennium.