The Center for College Affordability and Productivity recently released a study by Richard Vedder and two of his research associates, which found that the University of Texas could save millions of dollars and make college more affordable if the school put a greater emphasis on teaching. Here are some of the key findings from the report in the words of its authors:

• If the 80 percent of the faculty with the lowest teaching loads were to teach just half as much as the 20 percent with the highest loads, and if the savings were dedicated to tuition reduction, tuition could be cut by more than half (or, alternatively, state appropriations could be reduced even more – by as much as 75 percent).
• 20 percent of UT Austin faculty are teaching 57 percent of student credit hours. They also generate 18 percent of the campus’s research funding. This suggests that these faculty are not jeopardizing their status as researchers by assuming such a high level of teaching responsibility.
• Conversely, the least productive 20 percent of faculty teach only 2 percent of all student credit hours and generate a disproportionately smaller percentage of external research funding than do other faculty segments.
• Research grant funds go almost entirely (99.8 percent) to a small minority (20 percent) of the faculty; only 2 percent of the faculty conduct 57 percent of funded research.

To read the full study, click here. The Buckeye Institute will be producing a report about reforming higher education in Ohio this fall.