In a project led by Hamilton Vice President for Information Technology David Smallen and Vice President for Administration and Finance Karen Leach, researchers have found that colleges' spending on information technology is growing faster than spending in other areas. In the article, released by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Smallen and Leach report their findings.
Smallen and Leach have found that among the 118 colleges and universities surveyed, the institutions typically allocate 50 percent of the total budget for IT to personnel expenses (salaries, benefits and staff development) while smaller institutions add an additional 12 percent to pay for outside contractors.
While most institutions allocate 25 percent of their IT budget to hardware and only 7 percent to software purchases, the survey reported that the IT budget itself has increased by a median of 11 percent over the previous year's budget, across the board.
