Rapid change of technology and society's increasing reliance on it is the bogeyman of higher education planning and budgeting. According to Greg Jackson, associate provost for information technology at the University of Chicago, the most valuable asset at the university is the wiring and networking installed under their campus. It's hard to justify a major investment in something that, if it works right, will be completely invisible. Proper budgeting can help. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done.
Few institutions can provide a reliable figure for their total campus IT spending.
First, institutions must figure out what to include in such a number. Second, spending for information technology is extremely decentralized at many institutions. Each university department may buy its own hardware, software or even maintain its own network. Even after identifying IT costs, universities need benchmarks against which to compare their costs. Because each university tracks IT differently, there are few reliable IT spending standards.