Increasingly higher ed in america is being treated as a degree mill, where students are "customers" and the degree is a "product."
It's disgusting, but it's a natural consequence of a commodified education system in which colleges and universities are treated as businesses.
I personally think we need to cut out the parasitic administrators and let the department faculty run the schools like co-ops, and possibly hire out the few administrative tasks that are actually necessary.
That would be far cheaper than paying these enormous administrative salaries, so it could lower tuition while increasing faculty pay.
But has anyone considered those poor shareholders?