We evaluate potential determinants of enrollment in an early retirement incentive program for non-tenure-track employees at a large university. Using administrative records on the eligible, population of employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements, historical employee count and layoff data by budget units, and public information on…

After receiving his PhD in 1970, the author has spent almost 30 years conducting research on the economics of higher education, chairing faculty budget committees at Cornell, serving as a Cornell vice president and then as a trustee of both Cornell and SUNY, and being associated with innumerable national commissions and higher education…

Endowments of major universities such as Cornell have received much attention over the past few years. Last academic year, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee launched an investigation into the finances of universities with endowments that exceeded $500 million dollars and required all of these universities to file reports detailing their finances.…

Average faculty salaries differ widely across fields at American colleges and universities and the magnitudes of these field differences in salaries have been growing over time. What is less well known, however, is that at any point in time there are wide differences in the magnitudes of field differences in faculty salaries across academic…

After providing some background data on the number of blue-collar and white-collar employees covered by collective bargaining agreements at U.S. institutions of higher education, this study used data from a 1997-1998 study on the costs of staffing in higher education. It was conducted by the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers…

Presents evidence that a trade-off exists between wages and certain characteristics of retirement systems in the public sector. Concludes that pension reform legislation in the public sector will likely have an impact on public sector wages and, therefore, careful consideration should be given to the design of such legislation. (Author/CT)

Data on employees in 168 colleges and universities were analyzed using collective bargaining coverage as an exogenous variable. Union-covered staff enjoyed a 9-11% salary premium. The union/nonunion differential was larger in two-year than four-year institutions, with no public-private differences. Where faculty were union covered, staff had an…

This paper focuses on three academic labor market issues that researchers at Cornell University are addressing currently: (1) the declining salaries of faculty employed at public colleges and universities relative to the salaries of their counterparts at private higher education institutions; (2) the growing dispersion of average faculty salaries…

Data on high school students' college choice was used to estimate the effects of attending different college types on labor market outcomes. Even controlling for selection effects, there was strong evidence of a significant economic return to elite private colleges, an effect that has increased over time. (SK)

This study uses institutional level data from the Office of Institutional Research and Analysis of the State University of New York (SUNY) System to investigate reasons for growth in the share of faculty members in U.S. colleges and universities who are part-time or full-time without tenure track status. It presents background data on how the…

Analyzing data from 700 New York state school districts, the authors found that school superintendents were rewarded, by salary increases and opportunity to move to better paying jobs, for having low school tax rates and high achievement within their districts. The analysis suggests that superintendents did not significantly influence either the…

This report briefly summarizes findings from the 2002 Cornell Higher Education Research Institute survey of start-up costs at the over 220 universities classified as research and doctoral universities by the Carnegie Foundation in 1994. It reports the mean start-up cost packages across institutions for new assistant professors and senior faculty,…

This paper tests the hypothesis that the effect of minimum wage legislation on teenagers' education decisions is asymmetrical across family income classes, with the legislation inducing children from low-income families to reduce their levels of schooling and children from higher-income families to increase their educational attainment. (Author)

This paper sketches the reasons for the tremendous increase in university expenditure on research out of internal funds including changes in federal indirect cost reimbursement policies and the growing cost of start-up funds for new faculty. It presents evidence, based on a survey of department chairs, deans, and vice presidents for research at…

By last spring, most faculty members at public institutions of higher education were justifiably pessimistic about their likely salary increases for the 2003-04 academic year. Many states were running large budget deficits for the second or third year in a row and no longer had reserves to draw upon to balance their budgets. These shortfalls…