Universities replicate UNC's own Carolina Counts in decreasing administrative costs

A UNC-CH program has been saving the University millions — and it’s now getting attention from the state legislature.

A December report , conducted by the N.C. General Assembly’s Program Evaluation Division, pointed to UNC-CH’s Carolina Counts as the closest example in the system of a comprehensive approach to operational efficiency.

Carolina Counts, which was initiated by former UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp, identifies wasteful administrative costs, and shifts funding to research, faculty and students, said program director Mike Patil.

Patil said the program has saved the University more than $200 million in its four years so far.

Nearly half a billion dollars has been erased from state funding for the system since 2011, and all system schools are pressed to maintain academic quality with less money.

Pam Taylor, a principal program evaluator for a division of the N.C. General Assembly, said researchers were interested in seeing how UNC-system schools were responding to shrinking budgets.

“The UNC system has embarked on many operational efficiency efforts at the system-wide level — we are really looking at the wide level efforts and how well they are doing,” she said.

The report found that Carolina Counts cuts funding to non-core functions of the university, including human resources and accounting.

Researchers visited eight of the 17 UNC-system schools to see measures the schools had already implemented, Taylor said.

UNC-CH’s Carolina Counts program stood out to researchers because it was the only one that researchers felt accurately documented its savings, she said.

Other system schools are working to improve operational efficiency.

For instance, UNC-Wilmington Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs Charles Maimone said UNC-W’s financial rating was changed from stable to positive after an evaluation last month.

He said UNC-W has combined departments and worked to maximize the use of staff time.

“We have re-shaped ourselves so we can keep all of our resources focused on the academic core of our institution,” Maimone said.

But system-wide efforts are a priority for the program evaluators.

“We are really looking at the system-wide level efforts and and how well they were doing,” Taylor said.

The system Board of Governors’ strategic plan identifies several cost-cutting efforts across the system.

Patil said the success of expanding the Carolina Counts program would depend on the participation and enthusiasm of system faculty. He said faculty should be given the option to opt in to the program.

“If you mandate it, it kind of becomes someone else’s program,” he said. “You’re reluctant to do it.”

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