Editorial: Keep out outsourcing

From training Resident Assistants to managing housing assignments to financial aid advice,… From training Resident Assistants to managing housing assignments to financial aid advice, colleges and universities across the United States now have more ability to outsource services.

Outsourcing can be cheaper and more convenient for schools. Hard numbers are difficult to come by, but school administrators across the country say they’ve faced more e-mails, phone calls and advertising from these third-party vendors in the past few years, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

But outsourcing certain services does more than just displace university jobs. Services requiring direct involvement and interaction with students should especially be kept under a school’s management.

Even after assuming a company providing a service can do so effectively, relegating drug prevention advice, for example, doesn’t help build a student’s relationship with his school.

Outside providers also work mainly by contract. Should something go awry or there’s a disagreement from either party, making changes is more difficult when multiple organizations are involved.

Still, it’s too much to label all third-party vendors as detrimental to a school’s operations. If a company can properly process data or surveyed information — a third-party service that’s more removed from direct student interaction — it could be a worthy investment.

Yet, once third parties become the primary providers, so much for administrational school spirit. To students, too many non-in-house services could make a school feel like a shopping mall of services rather than a cohesive educational institution.

Pitt trains its own RAs, has peer counselors for students and has Panther Central operators conveniently awaiting calls at any hour. Fortunately, Pitt doesn’t seem awash with outsourced operations, and hopefully that won’t change.