When he retired, there were DOZENS of assistant, deputy, associate, etc. provosts in the provost office. The assistant assigned to his area could approve nothing. His only course of action was "to call a meeting". The process of approvals went from immediate, to months. Meanwhile, the college itself, had no more actual students than when he started. In addition, many of these assistant bureaucrats earned more money than the professors actually teaching students.
Tuition, of course sky rocketed. At the time, I had graduated from a similar university in a different state. I had earned my own way to a degree working in a co-op program where I would alternate between working and education sessions. The same program today earns students only a small fraction of the cost of tuition and housing. The cost of the bureaucracies is a major part of this problem.
I think that if you looked at public schools, you would find the same problem. The growth in “administration” has far outpaced the growth in student numbers and the numbers of classroom teachers.
I suspect that, in public schools at least, some of that growth is due to the need for compliance with state and federal regulations.
At the same time, parents of children in the elementary grades are burdened by extensive and detailed “supply lists” given out by the schools. Apparently they can’t teach without things like post-it notes, multicolored pens, boxes of tissue, hand sanitizer, and the like.
It’s funny that the more money is poured into “education” the less of it that seems to be taking place.