When I look at how much money top-level University administrators make in a year, it reminds me of the indubitable words of Louisiana’s greatest poet, Torrence Hatch: “I’m an ordinary person, but I’m paid.”
The University, in particular, and higher education, in general, narrowly avoided further mid-year budget cuts stemming from the legislature’s inability to find funds for the future academic year. According to LSU President F. King Alexander’s latest email update, the University will have to find *only* $10 million to cover the shortfall in the popular college scholarship program, TOPS.
The shortfall is super scary compared to previous years of cuts because it comes from a funding source so integral to the University’s well-being. TOPS represents the single greatest indirect source of revenue to the University.
When the state promises a Louisiana high school student a certain amount of money through TOPS, state colleges scramble to scoop those tuition dollars up. The more TOPS students, the more money for professors, administrators and staff.
Ever wonder why the University keeps taking in more students than it has room for? Ever wonder why tuition keeps increasing? Now you know.
This is a pretty horrendous way of allocating funds. Instead of having a reliable budget schools can count on, universities are at the whims of how well students score on standardized tests. However, this is what schools are forced to do when the state gives them a shoestring budget and continues to tell them they need to do more with less.
What this means, and what Alexander hasn’t interrupted spring break festivities to tell us, is that the University lives or dies on the back of TOPS money.
While I appreciate King’s updates, I sincerely hope he isn’t writing those himself. Alexander makes approximately $822 a day, totalling an annual salary of $300,000, according to data from NOLA.com | The Times Picayune. His time is better spent negotiating phat stack donations from oil companies or lobbying legislators with legislative iason Jason Droddy.
But, he’s far from being the only big ballin’ University administrator. Vice Provost of Diversity Dereck Rovaris makes $175,000 a year, while Student Life & Enrollment Vice President Kurt Keppler rakes in $217,000 annually. Talk about racks on racks on racks!
With TOPS in flux and no realistic chance of a stable state budget in the future, University administrators will probably have to raise student fees even more. Student fees increased about $140 from 2011 to this year.
If and when the University raises student fees for upcoming semesters, I’d like to issue a challenge to all University administrators making more than enough to pay their bills: take a pay cut for students.
Students and their families receive the brunt of budget cuts when fees are raised, so University administrators should stand in solidarity. If the fee increases are anything like past years, it won’t be more than $100. That’s a drop in the bucket for somebody making six figures a year.
The one percent of University faculty and staff should step up to the plate.
Jack Richards is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from New Orleans.