As an English major, let me talk about practical uses of cheaper degrees.

This country needs lots of professionals in lots of areas, and many of those areas don't pay big bucks, yet the degrees cost a bundle. Thus, you wind up with people avoiding such fields. One solution to such a conundrum is to charge less for lesser paying fields. If students don't come out of school with a crushing debt, they will be more tempted to be social workers, physical therapists, teachers, or any number of less-glamorous professions.

I went to school for English literature. I read lots. Amazingly, in all that time, I never read the single most successful modern author, Arthur Conan Doyle. He wrote Sherlock Holmes. Somehow, the most singularly famous character ever written was not worth serious time in a literature class. A second story. The only reason that we read Washington Irving in my American Literature class was because the students kept demanding that the teacher teach it. That is a remarkable story. 200 years after he was a writer, not only were the students still clamoring to read him, he still had no respect from the establishment.

The #1 reason that I avoid smart phones is standby time. I rarely use my phone. I don't take care of it. It's there so that the wife can call me. The current crop of smartphones eat power. I simply will not take care of a phone that runs down in a few days. That does not suit my needs. A phone without power can't do it's one and only job - be a phone.

I used to handle about 400 hundred people and 400 boxes as a sneaker admin. So two folks for PCs and one for servers is workable -IF- you have your act together.

My suspicion is that you all are a bit low. Reasons:
- People get sick.
- People take vacations.
- You need to cross-train each other.
- Special projects can and do come up.
- There are under-met needs in the company.

To get the person that you need, you really need to show the business case for it. Once you can do that, ratios don't matter.

Start by going to a few marriage councilors. I'm serious. Good marriage counseling is cheaper than a divorce by an order of magnitude and infinitely more helpful. Quite simply, it's a bargain. We went to two difference councilors. One taught us skills and the other ran us through a battery of tests, and then reviewed our weaknesses. Both were informative.

Above all, your first job is to show how this is THEIR problem. You need to show the management how this issue is THEIR issue, will bite them in the ass, and that their best course of action will be to pony up the money. Politely, of course. You don't need to be an ass. The second thing that you need is an ally. That's your boss. You need his help. You need him working the money/politics side for you. If not him, then you need someone who knows the money politics side. Don't point fingers. Your job is to come in, straighten things out, and bring the shop up to a PROFESSIONAL level. Keep that as your attitude, and make sure that everyone knows it.