Public Colleges Outsourcing Services To Private Companies As States Cut Budgets

Public colleges can't do it all, at least not when the economy is weak.

More public colleges are farming out the non-educational aspects of their campus operations -- things like parking enforcement and dorm construction -- to private companies, the the Wall Street Journal reports.

In just the latest example, the WSJ notes, Ohio State University is looking for one or more private investors to lease its parking system of more than 35,000 spaces, a move that could raise as much as $375 million for the school, but has students worried about a possible crackdown on violations.

Other schools have hired private developers to build dorms and restore campus buildings. And officials at OSU are thinking of privatizing the golf course and the small airport that sit on campus grounds, according to the WSJ.

Outsourcing these non-essential services to private companies indicates how tight money is many states, thanks to a weak economy in which housing values are low, consumers aren't spending or earning much and tax revenues aren't what they once were.

In an environment like this, public schools at every level are hurting -- from colleges that are slashing programs, shedding faculty and cranking up tuition prices to the local high schools selling ad space on their buses and lockers.

Attendance rates have gone up at public colleges since the onset of the recession, upping the pressure on schools to provide services and amenities for increasing numbers of students in spite of falling revenues.

Academia isn't the only place where reduced state budgets are causing waves of pain. In many towns, emergency services have been forced to scale back, with some police forces and fire departments now lacking the resources to respond to every call. And a number of communities have shut off their streetlights to save money, even though the darker streets might be contributing to a rise in local crime.

Comments

[Shawn1966]

05:33 PM on 04/05/2012

Sounds good to me. How does who builds the dorms have any affect on education. If it is cheaper to have a private company build the dorms then the private company gets the contract. The building does not care who the contractor is.

[luapmi2]

07:53 AM on 04/04/2012

great idea....let' roll

[maninal2]

02:44 PM on 04/03/2012

"disaster capitalism" to describe what was happening with what they were seeing around them because it was so clear that this disaster was being harnessed to push through a radical vision of totally unrestricted markets.

The right creates fiscal disasters while in office, blames government then outsources the public commons for private gain. State by state public assets are being given away at fire sale prices under the false guise of financial disaster.

[Shawn1966]

05:23 PM on 04/05/2012

Sorry to be the one to break it to you but the blame for the current crisis is equally shared by the left, the right, and the middle for that matter.

[exchef100]

11:00 AM on 04/03/2012

Education is the proven enemy of the right and the religious. That is why it is always one of the first areas on the chopping block when the GOTP proposes cuts. They either want to make cuts so that the only way to receive a decent education is by paying for private schools (rich families) or privatize education so that everyone is indoctrinated with corporate loyalty from a young age.

[lynnxe]

10:31 AM on 04/03/2012

This article is disingenuous in making it seem as if Ohio State is outsourcing the parking because they "can't handle it". Is a school that just gave it's President a $160,000 raise feeling the pinch? Is a four million dollar salary for the football coach a more reasonable expenditure than parking? Or are they just making poor choices?

The fact is, the parking deal is about short-term profits and the increasing corporatizing of public institutions. Ohio State doesn't lose money on it's parking, nor does it have trouble "handling it", in fact, parking lots are full, run smoothly, and yes, already expensive. And students aren't worried about "a possible crackdown of violations" (they are already plenty strict!), they're worried about a 10% increase per year in parking fees that the privatization will stir, as well as the consequences for employees of the parking system, and they are speaking up to reject this ill-conceived plan. http://www.progressohio.org/blog/2012/03/hundreds-of-osu-students-faculty-and-community-members-rally-for-education-funding-and-to-protest-os.html

Yes, state budget cuts have hurt schools. More specifically, they have hurt students, who pay for these budget cuts with higher tuitions, larger class sizes, and fewer services. But be honest and tell the real story, please. This is shoddy reporting, Huffpo...I usually expect better of you.

[themodernleader]

06:57 AM on 04/03/2012

  Many Federal functions are being turned over to corporations and the Federal staffs laid off or retired.  We are becoming a corporate state.

[nycbillt]

03:41 AM on 04/03/2012

You still get what you pay for.

[thomasearlva]

12:43 AM on 04/03/2012

I figure that soon enough schools will be staffed by the students as only management is retained and students have to fulfill the roles. Outsourcing, hasn't that already proven to be one of the horsemen of local economies. On the flip side, you can quit working at the college to go work for the company your job's outsourced to. Or maybe work for a construction company since it seems there is no shortage of buildings built for college, usually dedicated to a person who's bought their name on the building.

[phree]

10:22 PM on 04/02/2012

In addition, most colleges have outsourced the teaching of nearly all undergraduate classes, especially the core courses most Freshmen and Sophomores take. Adjuncts who are paid less than minimum wage to teach college level classes staff most classes while the ranks of the administration grow beyond imagination. The fact is that the modern university only pays lip service to teaching and "customer" service. The students are present to finance a great lifestyle for the 30% of faculty who are tenured and the worse than useless administrators who contribute nothing to the learning process. It's an insane slave labor system that serves to decimate the learning process for undergraduates.

Administrators have proliferated while actual faculty ranks have declined. Administrators are never laid off or eliminated. We need more adjunct administrators who are paid $1500/semester and then maybe the situation will be addressed.

[banksm2010]

11:24 PM on 04/02/2012

So true, many of the professors i had, at another big U, had mandatory research quotas given by the university. For example time is divided by research, publishing, presentation amongst university fellow then teaching.
Luckily when it got so bad that some of the professors failed almost every single kid in their upper level math classes, the University then decided to look into the teachers and teaching method. So at least by next year there were a lot of changes.

[Dh Barr]

09:21 PM on 04/02/2012

Perhaps the better question that needs to be asked is why a taxpayer funded public university needs a golf course and an airport in the first place? Is Ohio St a big NCAA golf center or something? Do they have a pilot training course? Or is it just perks for the staff?

[exchef100]

11:04 AM on 04/03/2012

As an OSU alum, they have both a golf team (the course is public and open to everyone) and pilot training/air traffic controller program. They also have a huge farm on campus for the agricultural programs.

[Kye154]

09:03 PM on 04/02/2012

What is really funny, the colleges haven't put the students to work yet, nor are they capable of placing many of their students in employment after graduation. All that brain power in colleges, and they haven't found a way to make ends meet.

[whyus]

08:07 PM on 04/02/2012

It's all going according to Republcon plan.

[oilfield]

11:04 PM on 04/02/2012

so partisan.....wow

[maninal2]

02:45 PM on 04/03/2012

So true ....wow

[WI Patriot]

07:01 PM on 04/02/2012

Maybe public higher education needs reform? Funny the private colleges are not doing this. The outdated public model has failed.

Time for a new one. Let's start with getting rid of tenure.

[Wizard33]

10:41 AM on 04/03/2012

That statement is so completely ridiculous that I can't stand it. Private colleges charge four times a s much money to their students as public ones do. This is your classic apples to oranges comparison.

[maninal2]

02:46 PM on 04/03/2012

More anti union bulll. That's your one trick pony and it doesn't fly