feath·er·bed
/ˈfeT͟Hərˌbed/
verb
gerund or present participle: featherbedding
- BRITISH
provide (someone) with advantageous economic or working conditions.
- deliberately limit production or retain excess staff in (a business) in order to create jobs or prevent unemployment, typically as a result of a union contract.
The cost of a college education is going up – again – and maybe you’re wondering why.
When I was a student at Louisiana Tech (granted, this was a while back; I got my B.A. in 1970), my costs for a college education were about $100 per quarter (Tech is the only state school that employes the quarter system as opposed to semesters for all other schools).
When I first enrolled at Tech in 1961 (I dropped out to enter the military and returned as a veteran), tuition was an eye-popping $15, plus a few incidental fees and books.
That hundred-buck cost, of course, did not include housing (I lived at home), meals (I ate at home) or infirmary fees nor did it include books. Suffice it to say, those would’ve cost a tad more but still nothing like what it costs to set foot in a college classroom today.
Nowadays, depending on the number of hours you take, Tech can cost in the neighborhood of 10 grand. That’s a pretty good neighborhood. Just down the road, one can settle in at Grambling State University for about $7,700 per year but it’s a smidgen more at the state’s flagship university, LSU, where it will cost an in-state student about $12,000 per year – more than $28,000 for out-of-staters.
That’s for now.
HOUSE BILL 862, by Rep. Jason Hughes (D-New Orleans), has passed the House by a whopping 90-7 vote (to see how your representative voted, go HERE). That bill gives colleges and universities free rein to jack tuition and fees ever higher, making it increasingly unaffordable for many kids to go to college, even with TOPS help.
So, where does that money go? I mean, LSU, for example has more than 37,000 students. The University of Louisiana Lafayette, the state’s second-largest public university, has 16,200. Tech has 12,400.
But for our purposes, we will consider LSU.
LSU has some 5,800 employees on its Baton Rouge campus.
Of that 5,800, there are 1,416 full-time professors (355), associate professors (327), assistant professors (353) and instructors (381). The pay spreads are rather stark. Professors make from $80,000 to $312,000); associate professors from a low of $56,000 to a high of $240; assistant professors between $50,000 and $190,000 and instructors between a poverty-level $16,000 and $106,000 (except for one part-time instructor whose pay was list at $114,000).
And while there are 1,416 full-time teachers on campus for those 37,000 students, for the 614 total athletes at LSU (315 men and 299 women), there are:
- 18 head coaches – one at $475,000, one at $400,000, two others at more at $380,000 and $310,000 (not counting millions that the Tiger Athletic Foundation might be chipping in);
- 7 assistant head coaches – two at $400,000 each, another at $355,000;
- 52 assistant coaches – 7 at $400,000 each, three others at between $310,000 and $350,000;
- 1 athletic director at $525,000;
- 13 assistant athletic directors earning between $92,000 and $425000;
- 8 trainers ($51,000 to $91,000);
- 7 assistant trainers ($64,000 to $105,000 and yes, I’m also stumped as to how assistant trainers earn more than trainers).
As near as I can figure it out, there are 106 full-time employees in the athletic department to tend to the needs of 614 student-athletes.
But not to worry. The Ol’ War Skule has 62 librarians to handle the requirements of 37,000 students. The breakdown:
- 23 librarians ($42,000 to $100,000);
- 21 assistant head librarians ($55,000 to $104,000);
- 15 assistant librarians ($46,000 to $79,000)
- 3 library specialists ($34,000 to $50,000).
It gets better.
- 13 auditors ($55,000 – $258,000);
- 52 accountants ($51,000 – $88,000)
- 7 accounting technicians ($40,000 – $50,000
- 3 purchasing agents ($42,000 – $50,000)
- 5 assistant purchasing directors ($104,000 each)
- 50 business managers ($55,000 – $110,000)
- 12 directors of business and fiscal affairs ($70,000 – $178,000)
- 34 business & fiscal staff members ($44,000 – $70,000)
- 7 attorneys ($70,000 – $379,000);
- 3 paralegals ($61,000 – $139,000)
- 45 department heads ($67,000 – $281,000);
- 14 project leaders ($68,000 – $100,000)
- 4 project supervisors ($70,000 – $85,000);
- 12 project coordinators ($45,000 – $77,000) would someone please explain the difference between a leader, a supervisor and a coordinator?
- 53 program managers ($58,000 – $103,000);
- 34 administrative program specialists ($47,000 – $69,000);
- 24 executive directors ($74,000 – $275,000);
- 72 directors of academic affairs ($84,000 – $177,000)
- 111 associate directors ($45,000 – $147,000);
- 225 assistant directors ($41,000 – $125,000);
- 61 assistants to the director ($42,000 – $65,000) I don’t know the difference, either, but what on earth do all those directors direct?
- 258 managers ($33,000 – $143,000);
- 12 assistant managers ($47,000 – $52,000;
- 53 program managers ($58,000 – $103,000);
- 23 analysts ($50,000 – $150,000);
- 178 computer analysts ($43,000 – $150,000);
There’s more:
- 12 project coordinators ($45,000 – $77,000);
- 66 administrative coordinators ($30,000 – $53,000);
- 554 plain ol’ coordinators ($30,000 – $65,000). Wait HOW many? How many coordinates would that many coordinators coordinate if they weren’t coordinating all over each other?
- 16 deans ($113,000 – $290,000);
- 32 associate deans ($69,000 – $221,000);
- 38 assistant deans ($73,000 – $158,000);
- 94 post-doctorate research scientists ($43,000 – $63,000);
- 36 research scientists ($40,000 – $91,000);
- 86 research associates ($43,000 – $63,000);
- 79 counselors ($40,000 – $74,000);
- 4 junior counselors ($45,000 – $55,000);
- 114 nonteaching professionals ($33,000 – $120,000);
- 1 interpreter ($93,000)
- 1 president ($725,000);
- 11 vice presidents ($230,000 – $475,000)
Eleven vice presidents? We as a nation of more than 300 million don’t seem to need more than one vice president.
Looking over some of these positions, I’m reminded of a term that was specific to railroading back in the day called featherbedding. But hey, that’s just me. They’re going up with tuition and fees so even more may be placed on the payrolls
Louisiana Voice 
When I attended LA Tech in 1960-63 I paid a $25 per semester fee.There was no tuition. I started medical school at LSU in New Orleans in 1963 and paid no tuition for the first 2 years, $300 for my third year and $600 for my fourth year. I worked all summer to make the final year tuition and felt very put-upon about it. Now I realize what a tremendous gift I received from the people of Louisiana. About 75% of my classmates stayed in the state to practice, an excellent return on their investment. It was an example of benevolent and enlightened self interest on the part of the state. But self-interest is no more. In the 2023-24 school year, medical school tuition in New Orleans was $31,375.
Your data provide a partial explanation for the increase in cost that greatly exceeds the effects of inflation. Certainly the ratio of faculty and staff to students at the medical school is much higher. Much of the increased staff is necessary simply for compliance with regulations, which are more stringent now. Things were looser back in the day. So there is some justification.
Unfortunately the infinity-fold increase in tuition highlights a sadder reality: we have lost sight of the idea that public education is a common good that benefits us all. It must not be only for those who can afford it. Let’s hope that college administrators are more enlightened than the legislature (a low bar for sure) and won’t price themselves out of the market.
I love your research, Tom. We forget how little money many of us had then and the affordability of a college education back then. Thank goodness I could live at home, work during the summers, pay for a semester at USL, and then serve my country in the military. Everyone should have to serve their country in some capacity for two years. And the cost of going to college today is ridiculous. It has become a for-profit business. I understand change and am not opposed to it. But should the cost of education be so astronomical that the debt load of paying for it becomes so impossible that the federal government has to intervene? And here we are, up in arms about what books are in the library in the age of the internet. Our priorities seem a bit askew.
Just to be clear at LSU all Athletic Department expenses are paid by Athletic Department revenue. No money from the general fund is allocated to the Athletic Department. That’s not the case at other universities but it is at LSU.
I would beg to differ. The salary numbers that Tom quotes for the coaches are what the state/LSU pays them. Those monies come from the state general fund. The additional monies they receive do come from the TAF. The info below was taken from a 2023 financial audit of the athletic department. Those payments are not coming from the TAF, they are coming from the state.
“We also found the current head football coach was overpaid $1,001,368 in supplemental payments in fiscal year 2022 (the reporting period). This was due to LSU making double payments in May and June 2022. The coach began his employment with LSU in November 2021, subjectto the terms and conditions set forth in a Term Agreement between LSU and the coach. LSU made supplemental payments to the coach directly from November 2021 through April 2022. In April 2022, the Board approved an Employment and License IP Agreement by and among itself, the coach, and the coach’s LLC. The new agreement superseded the Term Agreement. In May 2022, LSU began making supplementalpayments to the coach’s LLC. However, LSU also erroneously continued to make supplemental payments to the coach directly, thereby resulting in monthly double payments until LSU management detected it in November 2022. LSU management and the head football coach have enacted an adjusted payment schedule so the amount of overpayment will be recouped by the conclusion of fiscal year 2023.”
Below was copied from the public employment and IP license agreement between LAS and Brian Kelly. Notice that the base salary is $400,000
STATE OF LOUISIANA
PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE
EMPLOYMENT AND IP LICENSE AGREEMENT
This Employment and IP License Agreement (“Agreement”) is made and entered into as of the 8th day of April, 2022, by and between Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (“LSU” or “University”), a body corporate existing under the Constitution and laws of the State of Louisiana, herein represented by William F. Tate, IV, its duly authorized President, Brian Kelly (“Employee”), and Brian Kelly Football LLC (“Company”) for the services of Employee:
B. “Athletics Director”: The Director of Athletics at LSU.
c “Base Salary”: The annual sum of $400,000.
1. “Contract Year”: An annual period from January I to December 31 during the Term.
“That’s not the case at other universities but it is at LSU.” Believe me, LSU is not the only big time football school that does this.
It is my understanding all athletic department expenses are covered by athletic department revenue. But I’m no accountant, nor do I have access to the books. What I do know for a fact is LSU is one of the few schools in America which does not subsidize athletics with even a penny from the general fund, and up until a few years ago the athletic department made sizable contributions back to the general fund annually.
On page 4 of that employment agreement appears the following language: “Base Salary. LSU agrees to pay Employee the Base Salary annually, in 12 equal monthly installments, on LSU’s regular monthly payroll date.” Right below that wording is the section on Supplemental Compensation, which is payable in whole or in part, from affiliated foundation funds (TAF). Schedule A of this employment agreement lays out the supplmental compensation. I agree with you in that the athletic department basically funds itself. But, the head coach does receive that $400,000 from the state. The money the TAF gives to LSU mainly goes to the academic side.