How to Cut Administrative Bloat at U.S. Colleges

America's colleges and universities are at a crossroads. The number of schools closing their doors continues to grow driven by the declining number of students pursuing a bachelor's. This situation is expected to worsen because of a number of factors: (1) Starting in 2025 the U.S. will face the so-called "enrollment cliff," in which the population of college aid students will drop by 15% over four years. Colleges can expect to lose over 575,000 students over that four-year time span; (2) The strong labor market has led more high school graduates to delay indefinitely their pursuit of a bachelor's degree; and (3) Young Americans have become increasingly skeptical of the value of a college degree. The rising cost of college and the amount of debt students are required to take in order to graduate has re-enforced this viewpoint. Paul Weinstein, Jr. argues for schools to streamline their costs and pass some of the savings on to students in the form of increased scholarships, lower tuition, or a combination of both. Specifically, colleges could cut non-faculty positions by 1% per year over the next five years and use the savings to reduce tuition.