It can be quite a surprise to analyze expenditures and find out how much we spend on consultants. At a large university, the cost can exceed a million dollars in a busy year. Beyond the routine recurrent services, such as annual financial audits, we incur costs for many other individuals or firms to advise us or to help resolve projects or problems. For example, the cost of accreditation reviews using professional colleagues identified by accrediting agencies as consultants and evaluators is significant. In a year in which several professional programs are up for accreditation review, and the regional accrediting agency also is planning a visit, it's easy to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars either in direct costs or to prepare self studies.
Universities also have project-specific initiatives that call for external advisers.
Of course, professional advice is available at a range of prices, and without careful oversight the expenditures can become a significant budget burden. Some administrators may be reluctant to bring outsiders to campus for fear that they might not appreciate the complexity of issues or the unique campus culture. On the other hand, good consultants often can provide more valuable and objective information and analysis about our own institutions than we would be able to document, even if we were magically able to set aside all our other duties and just listen and observe. We seek professional acumen and advice when a project or situation requires a highly specialized level of knowledge, skill, or experience that is unavailable within the institution. Sometimes, if we need to investigate a sensitive, confidential, or controversial campus issue, it makes good sense to use outside advisers.