Graduate Student University of Arkansas, United States
Session Abstract: This paper provides new quantitative insights by combining IPEDS data with a novel payroll database constructed from state sunshine law requests. We adapt the Delta Cost Project methodology to analyze IPEDS expense data from 1984 onward, showing a modest rise in administrative expenses, representing less than 3 percentage points of total spending. These measures are limited by methodological inconsistencies and institutional discretion in reporting. Thus, we analyze payroll data from approximately 140 institutions across 4 states (CA, MI, VA, and TX), encompassing over 13 million employee- years and nearly 130,000 unique job titles. Our payroll-based measures reveal a substantially larger growth in administrative spending: approximately 8 percentage points of payroll expenditures, compared to IPEDS' measures of total spending. These findings highlight how more transparent and consistent data can better inform public policy on administrative costs in higher education.
Keywords: - IPEDS - Higher Education finance - Data transparency
