UC Berkeley to Pay Consultants $3M to Find Ways to Cut Costs

Facing a $150 million budget deficit this year due to cuts in state funding and higher operating costs, UC Berkeley has hired Bain & Co., a Massachusetts-based consultant with offices in San Francisco, for a hefty $3 million fee, plus expenses, to help the university find long-term ways to save money. As Fark.com aptly puts, "Somehow, cutting consultant fees from the budget isn't likely to make the list."

After the recent protest over the 32-percent fee hike in tuition, which drew an estimated 5,000 students and faculty a couple of weeks ago, this move has served to boil tempers further. An angry employee told The Chronicle, "It absolutely sickens me that the majority of my 8 percent pay cut is going -- not to protect the core teaching and research mission of the university -- but rather to compensate overpaid business consultants and their multimonth hotel stays and weekly flights home."