Expense accountability in MO and NC

Two university systems recently announced reductions in their administrative expense lines. President Erskine Bowles of the University of North Carolina system announced a 10% cut in administrative staff at the system office, and President Elson Floyd of the University of Missouri system announced similar cuts at both the system and campus level.  Both presidents indicated that the significant savings would be applied to their academic programs.  Both have provided examples of the leadership and management that are required to improve higher education's performance at a time when per-student-FTE state subsidies to public institutions are nationally at a 25-year low and still trending downward -- see the report from SHEEO. To make matters worse, a recent report from NCHEMS projects that all states will be in the throes of structural revenue shortfalls by 2013, implying that the allocation of revenues to higher education will steadily decrease relative to total allocations -- because of Medicare and other spending mandates.  Even as public higher education's fortunes rise and fall in absolute terms from state to state and year to year, its relative fortunes are trending downward in almost every key measure.  Higher education, especially public higher education, will need more leaders who, like Bowles and Floyd, are willing to take the necessary steps to reduce per-student expenses.