Bad Administration

The University of New Mexico is and has been facing a substantial budget shortfall due in part to the recession. The UNM administration has been dealing with the budget crisis by cutting funding to various programs and increasing fees for students, to name a few. Tuition rates continue to slowly increase every year. Since 2002, undergraduate tuition has gone up 51 percent. Beginning this past January, students are now required to pay to use the printers in the computer labs on campus. The average student in America graduates with a debt of $22,000. This is a debt that they will be paying for a very long time after they graduate. With the job market in the current state it is in, students with large amounts of debt will undoubtedly face financial struggles following graduation.

What I don’t understand, is why it is so easy for the UNM administration to increase student fees and tuition every year, but it is so hard for them to cut administrative costs. I am not talking about faculty costs. I actually think faculty should be paid more than they are currently since they are truly the backbone of our university. I am talking about the sheer size of the administration, and the size of their paychecks.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not have a problem with UNM’s tuition. I still think it is a great value and is much lower when compared with many other colleges and universities. I also do not have a problem with people making a lot of money. But during a financial crisis, I just don’t think it’s right for our administration to keep getting rewarded with huge salaries when they are, and have been, doing a dismal job managing the university‘s finances. They are in part responsible for UNM’s budget shortfall by mishandling funds. What ever happened to people getting pay cuts due to poor job performance? That’s what happens to a lot of ordinary Americans, why not the administration?

For the last six years, UNM education money (from tax dollars, tuition, and federal funds) has been shifting away from the classroom to administration salaries and perks. In 2008, UNM spent $4.1 million more on executive salaries than it did in 2002. That is a 71 percent increase! The increase amounts to $9.8 million UNM is spending on salaries for its president, two executive vice presidents, nine vice presidents, 13 associate vice presidents, 44 directors of major divisions, and others with similar titles.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with getting paid $300-500K a year, which is how much some of these administrators get paid, as I hope to someday make that much money also. But when they are clearly not doing a good job, and when the university is hard up for cash, their salaries should be renegotiated. President Schmidly should not be rewarded year and year for poor job performance and for helping to lead UNM into this financial mess.

On a side note, UNM’s graduation rate (students that graduate within six years) is only 44 percent. The national average is 59 percent. If you compared this to a car company in which 44 percent of their cars stopped working after six years, the president of that car company would be held accountable and would most likely be fired. Yet the president of UNM is rewarded.

All I’m saying is that UNM should look to cutting more administrative costs to help balance the budget. I’m not talking about just a one week furlough, or some other minor action, I’m talking about significant changes. The administration doesn’t blink an eye when they increase tuition or implement new fees for students, but they throw a fit when someone even mentions the idea of making pay cuts or lay offs. In these difficult financial times, everyone at the university should help carry the burden, not just the students and faculty, but also the administration.

Statistical information taken from various Daily Lobo articles at www.dailylobo.com