Have a look at the average admin headcount per student in 1995 vs 2025. It has grown to be the largest department by far of modern US universities (and a lot of places in Europe as well, unfortunately) - usually significantly larger and more well-paid than the faculty.

In one extreme example, I heard the ratio of student:admin is nearly 1:1. That is bonkers.

And no - administration employees don't need to justify their ongoing employment by constantly publishing new research in academic journals. For them, the gravy just keeps rolling in. Just keep increasing tuition, increasing the endowment fund (often through real estate deals and other hedge fund like activity), increasing donations, increasing their own budget, and threatening to cut research & academic department budgets.

Yes, academic and research departments have often had budget cuts. But expenditures per student are way up to pay academic administration salary.

(If I sound angry, it's because I am. MBA types have caused so much harm to these institutions.)