Strategic planning enables colleges to direct discretionary dollars into high-impact areas that can enhance critical core activities, improving output. When the institution can disinvest financial resources in weak or noncritical core areas and redirect them through careful budgeting, it improves its chances for success. (MSE)

Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis is the first public institution to implement Responsibility Center Management (RCM), a comprehensive decentralized, incentive-base financial management system. RCM has strengthened academic planning, budget management, general accountability, and multiyear fiscal planning. Organizational…

Designed for institutional leaders facing fundamental questions of changes in mission, goals, external relations, and internal priorities, this collection offers an introduction to strategic planning and descriptions of planning processes at several community colleges. Section I includes the following essays: "What Is Strategic…

The magnitude of funds needed to rectify the college deferred maintenance crisis make a quick fix unrealistic. However, by increasing funding levels and shifting spending patterns over time, institutions can address the problem without jeopardizing other goals and projects. A consortium of higher education associations recommends a…

Five strategies for realistic deficit management in the college or university during fiscal stress are examined: (1) comprehensive strategic and operational budget planning; (2) examination of tenure-stream faculty positions; (3) program review and evaluation; (4) self-supporting auxiliary and service units; and (5) increased flexibility in use of…

This publication presents case studies of 10 colleges and universities that developed creative approaches to resource allocation in order to confront the fiscal realities facing higher education. The case studies describe strategic review and planning efforts in times of fiscal austerity. They look at streamlining, but also explore permanent…

Essex Community College (Maryland) has used issue-oriented planning to maintain flexibility and adaptability while responding to environmental changes. Issues addressed by centralized and structured processes include management information systems, budget development, and external resource development. Issues addressed by decentralized processes…

Effective college planning in a period of reduced resources requires that a comprehensive long-range plan, based on consensus, be in place before budgeting begins, so essential resources will not be damaged. The starting point for planning is a well-stated conception of the institution and of its subsystems and their interactions. (MSE)

The multiyear forecasting model is a device to focus on the input side of the educational process--staff, materials, facilities, and services. An annual budget can be developed from the multiyear work plan, with specific policy statements being made to achieve the outcomes initially determined to be the goals and objectives of the district. (MLF)

This paper integrates principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) with those of investment for institutions of higher education. TQM with investment budgeting as one of its critical tools is seen to be essential for effective management in a time of decreasing financial resources. A process for investment budgeting is outlined and explained…

Fiscal crisis in New England has been greater than that of early 1980s; colleges and universities should heed lessons. Presents guidelines extracted from study on organizations that effectively managed cutbacks in programs. Effective strategic planning was based on 8 preconditions that define system's capabilities to identify and react to decline…

Prairie View A&M University's (Texas) experiences are offered as lessons in how to establish institutional priorities and procedures for retrenchment. Thirty-one specific cost-reduction strategies and policy changes are presented, and the evolution of a formal, institutionalized budget process, nonexistent until fiscal year 1991, is described.…

This paper addresses the problem of shaping new strategies in the face of current enrollment declines at many colleges and universities. It describes an approach that applies a long term planning model that can incorporate the short-term realities of lower enrollments and budget constraints with projections for new strategic initiatives. The paper…

This report presents an analysis of the Governor's proposed State budget for fiscal year 1991-92. The analysis provides: (1) a discussion of major budget issues facing the Governor and the Legislature in constructing the 1991-92 State budget; (2) a brief overview of the Governor's proposed funding priorities; and (3) an analysis of the key policy…

Evidence exists indicating that significant planning for elementary and secondary education has been largely absent. Recently educators have placed more emphasis on short-range and long-range planning as they have become more aware of the benefits of such planning to educational organizations. The areas receiving attention are the increasing size…