Vanderbilt University-Vanderbilt University has released the results of an internal
assessment that estimates it spends approximately $146 million a year
complying with federal regulations.
“Federal regulation of higher education and research is critical to
ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly and that health and
safety are rigorously protected,” Brett Sweet,
vice chancellor for finance and chief financial officer, said. “We
conducted this assessment because, until now, data about the cost of
complying with these regulations has largely been missing from
conversations on this topic. We wanted to fully understand the role that
complying with these regulations plays in the overall cost of higher
education and research.”
The assessment, conducted for Vanderbilt by the Boston Consulting
Group in the fall of 2014, used interviews with and surveys of faculty
and staff, university financial records and a review of existing
regulations to estimate costs for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. The review
examined the costs of compliance with higher education regulations,
research-related regulations and general regulations applying to all
sectors to get a full picture.
Research-related compliance costs were found to be the largest
contributors to overall federal compliance costs, accounting for
approximately $117 million. Complying with higher education-specific
regulations and maintaining accreditations cost approximately $14
million, while complying with general regulations that apply to all
sectors, such as human resources, immigration, finance, etc., accounted
for an additional $14 million. The combined cost represents
approximately 11 percent of the university’s overall expenses, excluding
its medical center’s patient care and clinical operations.
Seventy percent of the overall costs reside within individual
academic departments, which is one reason the overall costs have been
difficult to pin down in the past. Faculty time comprises over half of
these decentralized costs. The remaining 30 percent of costs are
centralized. Compliance in research areas accounts for 17 percent of
relevant expenditures, compared to 4 percent in non- research areas.
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