The economic meltdown has hit U.S. college campuses, and higher education is on the chopping block in state budgets, with cuts totaling hundreds of millions of dollars already approved and hundreds of millions in more cuts on the way. As veteran legislators, the authors have seen this story play out before in previous recessions. The mindset on…

In the debate over the rationale for college student financial aid, the key question is whether providing aid increases or decreases the net resources available to the college to fulfill its mission. For some institutions, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, student aid may function as an investment. (MSE)

This paper examines various ways in which states, colleges, and universities are balancing tensions between demands for greater institutional autonomy and demands for greater accountability to state legislatures. Noted are the states' varying fiscal situations, mixed messages on autonomy given by state governments to institutions, and increasing…

Colleges can avoid getting stuck with obsolescent and inadequate technology if governing boards can distinguish between the essential and the grandiose. This requires being clear about the purposes of the needed technology, being realistic about the outcomes, building full cost into budgets, involving faculty and staff in its use, and taking the…

As distance learning brings changes to traditional higher-education institutions and creates new educational providers, the college or university governing board must reexamine issues of institutional purpose, quality, and finance. Outlines questions for boards to ask, and cites a study of current institutional response to trends in distance…

College faculty, administrators, and trustees must abandon the posture of blame and advance to shared responsibility. But they must confront two uncomfortable truths: some academics may not be able to sever self-interest in order to develop a new strategic vision, and trustees and public officials may be unwilling to examine expensive programs…

Critics have condemned the state higher education coordinating board model as excessively bureaucratic, unresponsive to market demands, and indifferent to legitimate campus aspirations. Systems that prevail are those that collaborate in setting a statewide agenda; earn political support; present clear, meaningful missions; manage and resolve…

College/university trustees must constantly remind themselves that each resource decision, either near or long term, is connected directly to institutional mission. Annual measures cover too short a time period, and a balanced budget is irrelevant if institutional leaders do not understand mission and future needs. Changing demographics, public…