The University of Nebraska system reported that in 2024 its spending on administrators, managers, and professional staff surpassed the amount spent on faculty for the first time this century. This shift comes amid budget cuts and declining inflation-adjusted pay for teachers.
Administrative and professional staff wages grew from about $155 million in 2000 to $484 million in 2024. Meanwhile, faculty salaries increased modestly in nominal terms but fell in real terms when adjusted for inflation. Faculty leaders warn that the imbalance threatens the university’s academic mission.
John Shrader, president of the faculty senate at the Lincoln campus, stated, “If we keep devaluing the academic side of what we do at the university, then you’re going to get less performance.”
Budget constraints have driven tough decisions. The university system is implementing $20 million in cuts. At one campus, students and faculty have already faced $75 million in reductions over five years, with an additional $27.5 million expected. Measures include program eliminations, faculty position cuts, buyouts, and $17.25 million in administrative reductions.
University officials justify the administrative expansion by citing new institutional needs, such as student services, housing, compliance, commercialization, and athletics-related programming like name-image-likeness (NIL) initiatives.
This shift raises serious concerns. Public universities are entrusted with delivering education—not expanding bureaucracy. When administrators outnumber or out-earn faculty, the university’s priorities come into question. The result is fewer resources for teaching and mentoring, which undermines both academic and moral formation. The balance between governance and instruction appears skewed in favor of institutional bloat.
