Financial Liberation of Higher Education: An Academic Denominator Analysis of the United States Public System (2026 Edition)

Following the initial empirical model of the United States public system in 2021, and subsequent comparative analyses of the Canadian (2022) and Australian (2022) higher education sectors, it is time to return to the American system with an updated, post-pandemic data profile for PSA finance.

Higher education in the United States is routinely described by administrators, policymakers, and corporate pundits as an enterprise trapped in permanent fiscal crisis. Over the past five years, the public has been told that campuses must absorb continuous rounds of austerity: departments dissolved, tenured lines frozen, tuition incrementally hiked, doctoral admissions throttled, and two-thirds of the instructional workforce forced into contingent, per-course wage labor. At the same time, institutional balance sheets have never been larger, gross revenues across public flagships have crossed historic highs, and state tax appropriations have rebounded significantly from their post-Great Recession troughs.

How can a sector take in more revenue than at any point in human history, yet operate under a perpetual "cuts culture" that starves the classroom and reduces scholars to academic food-pantry recipients?

The answer lies in the fundamental design flaw of the monopolistic employer-enroller institution (Universitas). The legacy university is an extractive, debt-leveraged corporation that operates as an unnecessary, cost-intensive middleman between the only two essential participants in higher education: the academic and the student.

By adopting the analytical framework developed across this series of financial analyses—the academic denominator—we can strip away the corporate apparatus and evaluate what higher education actually costs when delivered directly by sovereign scholars. Using the latest benchmark data from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES/IPEDS), and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), this analysis demonstrates that the Professional Society of Academics (PSA) model is not merely a viable alternative to the corporate campus. It is an engine of complete financial liberation for the social good of higher education.

I. The Analytical Shift: From the Student to the Academic Denominator

In standard institutional finance, the universal metric of analysis is Revenue per Full-Time Equivalent Student (FTES). State legislators, university budget officers, and credit-rating agencies evaluate postsecondary health by dividing various funding streams—state appropriations, tuition, auxiliary sales, endowment yields—by the student body headcount. This metric reflects the consumerist logic of the corporate campus: it measures the gross revenue made possible by the enrollment of students.

In 2022, Canadian higher education analyst Alex Usher observed that this equation can, and should, be run with a different and equally necessary denominator: the academic.

Teacher and student are the only two indispensable components of any educational system. Buildings, athletic arenas, compliance offices, marketing suites, and corporate governing boards are mere organizational scaffolding.

From its inception, the PSA framework has placed the academic at the center of the financial equation. Rather than viewing faculty as subordinate employees (locatio operarum) selling their labor to an institutional employer, the PSA reconstitutes academics as sovereign professionals in solo or partnered public practice (Societas)—operating under inalienable Portable Licensure, entering into Direct Contracts with learners, and documenting scholarly rigor on an open Public Practice Record (PPR).

When we view public university finances through the academic denominator, the myth of scarcity dissolves immediately. The American higher education sector does not have a funding problem; it has an institutional overhead problem.

II. Methodology and the 2025–2026 US Data Profile

This analysis focuses strictly on the public sector of United States higher education, combining two-year and four-year degree-granting public institutions. All student and personnel metrics are calculated in Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) units to standardize across full-time and part-time populations.

1. Personnel and Enrollment Denominators

Data is drawn from the NCES Digest of Education Statistics and IPEDS fall staffing and enrollment releases:

• Students (FTES): Total public sector enrollment stands at 10,580,000 FTES across two-year and four-year public institutions.
• Faculty (FTEF): Public degree-granting institutions employ approximately 428,000 full-time instructional faculty and 380,000 part-time/adjunct instructors. Converting part-time instructors to full-time equivalents using the standard IPEDS 0.44 multiplier yields an FTE academic labor force of 594,380 FTEF.
• Student-to-Academic Ratio: Dividing total FTES by FTEF establishes a system-wide baseline ratio of 1:17.8 (17.8 students per FTE academic).
• Graduate Assistants (FTEGA): Public institutions employ approximately 101,200 FTE graduate teaching and research assistants, an FTE ratio of 104.5 students per assistant.
• Non-Instructional Staff (FTEOS): Public institutions employ 1,185,000 FTE non-instructional personnel—including executive managers, student affairs coordinators, legal compliance monitors, athletic staff, and marketing divisions. In the legacy corporate university, non-instructional personnel outnumber instructional faculty nearly 2.0 to 1.

2. Revenue and Expenditure Benchmarks

Financial benchmarks are drawn from the SHEEO State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) FY 2024 and FY 2025 reports, adjusted to constant 2025–2026 dollars:

• State and Local Appropriations: Education appropriations available for general operating expenses average $12,082 per FTES (an aggregate public investment of $127.8 billion).
• Net Tuition and Fees: After subtracting institutional discounts, waivers, and state financial aid, public institutions collect an average of $7,459 per FTES (an aggregate student contribution of $78.9 billion).
• Total Educational Revenue: Combining state appropriations and net tuition yields $19,443 per FTES dedicated to instructional and operational delivery ($205.7 billion sector-wide).
• Total Gross Institutional Revenue: When adding federal research grants, medical center revenues, auxiliary enterprises (housing, dining, athletics), and private gifts, gross operating revenue across the public sector reaches approximately $39,850 per FTES ($421.6 billion sector-wide).
• Direct Instructional Expenditure: According to NCES expenditure distributions, public institutions spend an average of $11,520 per FTES directly on instructional costs, meaning that over 71% of total gross operating revenue is consumed by non-instructional overhead, facilities debt, executive management, and auxiliary enterprises.

III. The 2026 Solo Academic Practice Expense Budget

To evaluate the viability of independent academic practice, we must define the operating expenses of a solo firm.

In earlier iterations of this model, practice budgets bundled practitioner compensation together with operating expenses. In keeping with the refined methodology developed in the Canadian and Australian studies, this analysis cleanly separates operating practice overhead from net practitioner compensation.

What does it actually cost for a scholar to operate a rigorous, face-to-face academic practice in an American city in 2026 under the PSA principle of Parsimonious Practice?

The practice model assumes an independent scholar in solo practice who provides intensive, small-cohort instruction, scholarly research, and community mentorship. The practice budget provides dedicated graduate assistant support and leases dignified, media-equipped seminar and office facilities within municipal libraries, local civic knowledge centers, commercial co-working hubs, or public university and college campuses.

Solo Practice Operating Overhead (Annual & Monthly)

Budget Item	Monthly Cost	Annual Cost	Operational Scope
Graduate Teaching / Research Assistant (GTA/GRA)	$3,000	$36,000	20 hours/week @ $45/hour for 40 weeks; provides competitive, dignified living-wage funding for graduate scholars
Dedicated Office & Seminar Facilities	$900	$10,800	Leased private office + scheduled access to multimedia seminar rooms in local civic/commercial hubs
Technology, Computing & Library Access	$150	$1,800	High-speed connectivity, cloud compute/LMS licensing, hardware depreciation, and database access
Professional Liability & Practice Insurance	$50	$600	General commercial liability and professional indemnity insurance
Guild Licensure & PPR Registry Fees	$100	$1,200	PSA membership, peer-review audits, and Public Practice Record ledger maintenance
Total Operating Overhead	$4,200	$50,400	Full operational cost of an independent, face-to-face academic firm

This operational overhead of $50,400 per year covers the core physical and human infrastructure required to deliver higher education across the majority of fields of study. It eliminates all corporate campus bloat—no athletic subsidies, no bond debt service for lazy rivers, no executive suites, and no $850,000 presidential compensation packages.

IV. Core Data Tables: The Academic Denominator Applied

When existing public higher education revenue streams are filtered through the academic denominator (594,380 FTEF), the results dismantle the narrative of financial austerity.

The core calculation follows this formula:

Table 1: US Public Sector Baseline Metrics (2025–26)

Metric Category	Count / Value	Student Ratio (per FTES)	Source Reference
Full-Time Equivalent Students (FTES)	10,580,000	—	NCES IPEDS Fall 2024 / Digest 2025
Full-Time Equivalent Faculty (FTEF)	594,380	1 : 17.8	NCES IPEDS (Full-time + 0.44 Adjunct FTE)
Graduate Assistants (FTEGA)	101,200	1 : 104.5	NCES IPEDS Fall Staffing
Non-Instructional Staff (FTEOS)	1,185,000	1 : 8.9	NCES IPEDS (Administrative & Support Staff)
Ratio of Non-Instructional Staff to Faculty	1.99 : 1	—	1,185,000 FTEOS ÷ 594,380 FTEF

Table 2: Existing Public HEI Funding Streams Filtered Through the Academic Denominator

Revenue / Expenditure Source	Per FTES	Aggregate Sector Total	Gross Revenue per FTEF	Net Practice Income per FTEF (after $50,400 expense)
A. State & Local Appropriations	$12,082	$127,827,560,000	$215,060	$164,660
B. Net Tuition & Fee Revenue	$7,459	$78,916,220,000	$132,770	$82,370
C. Total Educational Revenue (A + B)	$19,443	$205,706,940,000	$346,085	$295,685
D. Direct Instructional Expenditure	$11,520	$121,881,600,000	$205,056	$154,656
E. Total Gross Operating Revenue	$39,850	$421,613,000,000	$709,330	$658,930
F. Non-Instructional Overhead (E – D)	$28,330	$299,731,400,000	$504,274	—

Table 3: Academic Compensation Comparison (Legacy HEI vs. PSA Practice Scenarios)

Professional Role / PSA Allocation Model	Gross Practice Revenue	Practice Overhead	Net Annual Compensation	Status & Security
Current Adjunct Instructor (8 courses/year)	$32,000	$0 (Self-funded car/tech)	$32,000	Extreme precarity; zero benefits; piecemeal
Current Assistant Professor (Public 4-Year)	$88,500	$0 (Institutional)	$88,500	Probationary tenure-track; institutional dependency
Current Associate Professor (Public 4-Year)	$104,200	$0 (Institutional)	$104,200	Tenured employee (locatio operarum)
Current Full Professor (Public Doctoral)	$158,400	$0 (Institutional)	$158,400	Senior tenured employee (locatio operarum)
PSA: Direct Instructional Spending Only	$205,056	$50,400	$154,656	Sovereign practitioner; guaranteed graduate assistant
PSA: Appropriations Only (100% Tuition-Free)	$215,060	$50,400	$164,660	Sovereign practitioner; universal free access
PSA: Total Educational Revenue	$346,085	$50,400	$295,685	Sovereign practitioner; comprehensive elite practice

V. Discussion: Transformative Proof-Points of the American PSA Model

1. The Single-Source Solution: Universal Tuition-Free Higher Education

The most remarkable finding in Table 2 is found in Row A: State and Local Appropriations.

In fiscal year 2025, state and local taxpayers invested $127.8 billion ($12,082 per FTES) into public higher education. If that public funding is directed straight to sovereign practitioners via portable education grants or student vouchers, bypassing university administrations entirely:

• Every single one of the 594,380 FTE academics in the United States commands a gross practice revenue of $215,060 per year.
• After paying $50,400 for a fully funded graduate assistant, dedicated private office, and media-equipped classroom spaces, every academic takes home a net personal income of $164,660 per year.

According to the latest AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey, the national average salary for a full professor at a public doctoral institution is approximately $158,400.

Under the PSA model, existing tax appropriations alone can pay every academic in the United States the equivalent of a full professor's salary, while fully funding a graduate teaching assistant and professional facilities—without charging a single penny of tuition to any student.

The student debt crisis, which currently traps 43 million Americans under $1.77 trillion in obligations, is not an inevitable fact of nature. It is an artificial artifact of the institutional middleman. The American public is already paying enough in taxes to provide universal, tuition-free higher education to all 10.6 million public college students. The money is simply being intercepted by the corporate campus before it can reach the commons classroom.

2. The Direct Contract: Slashing Public Spending by Over 50%

Suppose policymakers choose not to maintain existing public appropriation levels, but instead seek to relieve the burden on taxpayers while preserving educational quality.

Under the PSA principle of the Direct Contract, public expenditure can be slashed by more than half:

• An independent scholar operating under Parsimonious Practice convenes small, rigorous seminars of 10 to 12 students.
• The practitioner charges an accessible fee of $800 to $1,000 per student per course.
• A student taking a standard full-time load of eight courses per year pays an annual tuition of $6,400 to $8,000.
• Contrast this with the current total educational revenue of $19,443 per FTES consumed by public institutions (Table 2, Row C).

By decoupling instruction from the corporate real-estate empire, the total cost of higher education drops by 58% to 67%. A state voucher or Pell Grant of just $7,500 would fully cover an undergraduate's complete annual tuition, saving taxpayers tens of billions of dollars each year while guaranteeing that 100% of educational funding goes directly to frontline instruction.

3. The Eradication of Adjunctification and Precarity

In the current institutional system, 68% of the academic workforce is trapped in contingent appointments. These scholars earn piece-rates of $3,500 to $4,000 per course section, grading papers in parking lots, holding office hours in coffee shops, and depending on campus food pantries to survive.

Why does this exploitation exist? Because the monopolistic corporate university relies on low-paid adjuncts to cross-subsidize non-instructional overhead and executive salaries. As shown in Table 1, public universities employ two non-instructional staff members for every single faculty member, while spending $504,274 per FTE academic on non-instructional overhead (Table 2, Row F).

Under the PSA, the category of "adjunct" is abolished:

• Academic authority is certified by the peer Guild via Portable Licensure, not by an institutional employer's contract.
• Every qualified scholar enters the profession as an autonomous practitioner.
• As demonstrated in Table 3, the mean, median, and mode of academic compensation align: every practitioner captures the full value of their higher education labor.
• A scholar teaching a modest cohort of students earns a secure, dignified livelihood ($150,000+ net), eliminating the structural exploitation that defines the modern academic labor market.

4. Expanding Graduate Education by 487%

Under the legacy HEI model, graduate teaching and research assistantships are treated as cheap, precarious labor. There are currently only 101,200 FTE graduate assistants across the entire public sector (1 per 104.5 students).

In the PSA solo practice budget, every single academic practice funds a dedicated GTA/GRA position at $36,000 per year ($45/hour for 20 hours/week across 40 weeks), with plenty of elbow room to increase pay.

• Across 594,380 FTE practices, this creates 594,380 fully funded graduate positions nationwide.
• This represents a 487% increase in graduate research and teaching positions, providing the next generation of scholars with living-wage financial stability while revitalizing doctoral mentorship.

VI. Institutional Middlemen vs. Professional Guild Regulation

A common defense of the institutional model is that universities provide indispensable administrative, legal, and regulatory oversight that independent practitioners cannot duplicate.

This argument ignores how every other major learned profession operates.

Consider the regulatory model of law and medicine. In the Canadian study, we examined the Law Society of Ontario (LSO), which regulates and licenses over 66,000 lawyers and paralegals across the province on an annual operating budget of approximately $230 million CAD—a tiny fraction of the billions spent by Ontario universities on non-instructional overhead.

The American context displays the same contrast:

• The State Bar of California regulates over 250,000 licensed attorneys with an annual operational budget of roughly $110 million to $120 million. It administers licensing examinations, enforces strict ethical codes, audits professional conduct, operates public complaint tribunals, offers professional development, conducts research on the profession, and performs public service.
• By contrast, the University of California system alone spends over $4 billion annually on non-instructional campus administration, institutional marketing, system-wide compliance, and senior executive management.

A statutory professional guild—the Professional Society of Academics—provides rigorous, system-wide ethical oversight, curricular auditing through the Course Difficulty Score (CDS), and public accountability on the Public Practice Record (PPR) at a microscopic fraction of the cost of corporate campus bureaucracies. Accreditation cartels (like SACSCOC or the Higher Learning Commission), which exist primarily to protect institutional market monopolies, are rendered obsolete by direct professional licensure.

VII. Addressing Practical Objections

What About Laboratory STEM and Big Science?

A frequent objection is that while the PSA model might work well for classroom-based humanities, mathematics, social sciences, business, and computer science—fields representing over 65% of all postsecondary enrollments—it cannot support capital-intensive experimental sciences.

This objection misinterprets how laboratory research is funded in the legacy university:

• Major laboratory science is already funded directly by federal research grants (NIH, NSF, DOE, DOD), not by undergraduate tuition or state educational appropriations.
• In the legacy university, the institution acts as an extractive tollbooth, taking 50% to 65% in Facilities and Administrative (F&A) indirect-cost overhead off the top of every grant to service campus bond debt and administrative salaries.
• Under the PSA, research scientists operate as independent investigators or form horizontal research consortia. Specialized laboratory facilities operate as autonomous, self-sustaining shared-resource centers leasing bench space and compute clusters at cost In a system where PSA has freed substantial public money for improved research funding.
• By bypassing the university's 60% F&A rake, research grants go twice as far, dramatically expanding scientific productivity.

What About Non-Instructional Staff and Campus Workers?

Does the PSA model eliminate administrative and campus jobs?

It eliminates redundant managerial and compliance positions: associate vice provosts of brand strategy, enrollment management consultants, and multi-million-dollar athletic coaching staffs.

However, essential educational support functions do not disappear; they are reorganized. As shown in the practice budget, student-facing academic support—graduate assistants, lab technicians, and specialized tutors—is directly funded through independent practices (e.g., $36,000 per academic). Furthermore, distributed academic practices stimulate local economies by leasing community spaces, patronizing local businesses, and integrating higher education into civic life rather than sequestering wealth inside corporate campus real estate.

Leaving the Institutional Compound

The numbers documented in this analysis are unequivocal:

The United States public higher education system is not broke. It is not underfunded. It is being systematically looted by an unnecessary institutional intermediary that consumes seven out of every ten dollars before a professor can speak to a student.

We have normalized an arrangement where:

• 43 million citizens carry $1.77 trillion in student debt;
• Two-thirds of the faculty earn poverty piece-wages without health insurance;
• Campuses borrow billions annually in commercial bonds to build speculative real-estate monuments; and
• University presidents earn $850,000 while directing their adjunct faculty to campus food pantries.

Every dollar required to liberate the system already exists. By reallocating existing state appropriations through the academic denominator, we can provide universal, tuition-free education to all 10.6 million public college students, double instructional investment, provide living wages for 594,000 graduate assistants, and pay every scholar in America an autonomous, full-professor-level compensation.

The solution is not to march for another marginal raise inside an insolvent company town. The solution is a Great Decoupling of the academe from the institutional employer-enroller of our inheritance.

It is time to move higher education out of the corporate campus and into the sovereign hands of the scholars and students who do the work. It is time to build the Professional Society of Academics.