We are wasting too much money on college administration costs.

That’s my takeway from a July 2017 report, How much is too much, by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. That report, which I found via the College Fix, documents how American colleges are spending outsize sums on administration costs. Outsize, that is, even considering that the report defines “administrative costs” by assessing what the National Center for Education Statistics defines as “institutional support” costs. The NCES excludes student activities, career services, food, housing, parking, and financial aid staff from its “institutional support” bracket. Instead, it defines those costs as including “general administrative services, executive direction and planning, legal and fiscal operations, and public relations/development.”