As we’ve learned from our friends over at the Pope Center for Higher Education, college tuition is out of control, the average professor spends less time in the classroom, the number of administrators has increased faster than the number of instructors, construction spending is ballooning, and student debt has sky-rocketed. The spending spree is out of control.  What can be done?

How about a business audit of higher education as suggested in this WSJ piece:

In the business world, officials keep an eye on the bottom line. If profits are down, there’s a performance audit to identify unprofitable practices. Similar audits are conducted on defense plants, hospitals, social agencies and other businesses that benefit from tax dollars. Why not audit higher education?

A required review could focus on basic teaching workloads, space utilization and personnel costs as they relate to program revenues. Since the federal government already collects data annually on higher education, it could start asking for more information related to productivity. Colleges would be forced to reconcile sloppy and obscure bookkeeping methodologies to report statistics in a format consistent with government-defined metrics.

Eventually, benchmark comparison data could be established for various categories of institutions. The Education Department’s new college rating system could also collect and present cost-income productivity ratios that consider credit hours completed compared with labor costs and other expenses per student. Wouldn’t it be helpful to know which colleges are most productive with their tuition dollars?

Granted, there would be a lot of gnashing of teeth in the higher-education community at the thought of using a business assessment technique within its ivory walls. But even if what resulted were recommendations, and not mandates, the scrutiny would open many eyes to inefficient practices.

North Carolina has an internal audit protocol for most state agencies but more in-depth analysis and report is needed.  The NCGA Program Evaluation Division reported in December 2013 that the UNC system needs a more comprehensive approach and metrics for operation efficiency. The 2015-17 General Assembly should consider a full and complete audit of the UNC system when they convene in January.  North Carolina has a long and proud history as a leader in higher education. We have an opportunity to be a leader in higher education reform.