House amendement targets administrative pay

Here's a little snippet from this morning's Daily Circuit chat with House higher-ed Chairman Chairman Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona), who is pushing public colleges and universities to more fully report how they spend money on administration.

As you can tell by reading the first few pages of the bill, he has included a provision in the higher education funding bill to require disclosure of administrative costs. Pelowski says MnSCU would also have to fund future shortfalls through cuts to administration instead of by cutting programs or raising tuition and fees.

He told The Daily Circuit's Tom Weber:

"Both systems have put an inordinate number of money into administrative salaries and positions. Simultaneously, there have been historic increases in tuition. And now we're seeing the historic debt that students are carrying. It has to change. Higher ed does not need that level of administration, nor does it need those salaries. But the students do, and the programs do."

The higher education committee is scheduled to discuss the bill this afternoon.

(Note: The "cut only administration" requirement appears to be for MnSCU only, not the U.)

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