Minnesota lawmaker taking steps to find out if U of M administrative salaries are ‘bloated’
Rep. Marion Rarick (R – Maple Lake) told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS she has asked for “top-to-bottom” revenue and spending data for the entire University of Minnesota system.
This would include, Rarick said, salaries and benefits for all presidents, vice presidents, chancellors, and department heads throughout the system.
“Across the entire $5 billion annual budget. It’s never been asked for before; the legislature has never looked at that before,” said Rarick. “They didn’t know what to do. So, yes, historic.”
Rarick will be looking to see if those salary and benefits packages are comparable to similar university systems in other states.
“I want to know if the administrators are making so much money that it’s not getting to the professors, it’s not getting to the staff, there’s increases in tuition and it’s just feeding this machine of administrative bloat,” said Rarick.
The U-of-M asked the legislature for $235-million dollars for the 2025-26 school year as part of its overall $5-billion budget.
The University of Minnesota Board of Regents has final approval of the system’s budget and Board of Regents member, James Farnsworth, told KSTP the scrutiny is welcomed.
“It continues to demonstrate that we need to put in the work at the legislature to show that as our state’s public land grant R-1 university that we’re spending our funds appropriately,” said Farnsworth.
Farnsworth said making sure the money is spent wisely and research programs and student achievement continue to be a high priority is important because it is in the best interest of the entire state.
“It’s always a task that is going to require us to really put in the work, to do our due diligence, because we’re asking for a lot of money,” said Farnsworth.