Public universities are not for-profit businesses with an easy-to-understand bottom line: their financial reports are not designed to convey information to the public fully or to reflect all the costs of teaching and research. Financial reports do track every dollar in accordance with the accounting rules required by auditors, but they do not…

When "crisis" and "extramural funding" are mentioned, most academics think about problems such as the low percentage of proposals funded by federal agencies (now approaching single digits in many fields) or inadequate indirect-cost recovery rates that fail to reimburse universities for all costs of research. These are great problems draining…

Given the financial burden they are taking on, parents and students are not interested in debates over tenure or academic freedom lest these distract them from the immediate goal of preparing to earn a living. Overburdened undergraduates-- students working twenty to forty hours each week to pay the bills and still taking out student loans--greet…

This article discusses how one small liberal arts school, Wheaton College in Massachusetts, devised a strategic plan to improve faculty salaries by linking improvements in salaries to improvements in college resources. The benefits of the salary plan went beyond improving salaries. First, the plan dictated that faculty salaries be determined at…

Faculty members have a legitimate interest in the amount of budgetary appropriations devoted to salaries and the rank of those appropriations among other institutional priorities. Faculty must protect academic affairs from peripheral activities and must examine the manner in which priorities are developed. (MLW)

It is proposed that the primary method for college budget reduction should be horizontal, across-the-board cuts by percentage applied to all programs and departments. It is argued further that vertical budget cuts embody imperfect procedural justice and should be considered only in extreme situations. (MSE)

If faculty and other groups are to play a significant role in the budget process, the administration should format the budget to invite discussion. A properly prepared budget can serve as an excellent means of consensus building on campus. A new technique known as "framework" budgeting is described. (MLW)

Higher education must look to itself, not just government, to improve teaching, training, and learning. It must empower individuals to achieve their goals better within society's context, explore how it can do that more effectively, and go outside academe to assure public interest, resources, and programs supportive of its work. (MSE)

Every college and university experiences some form of financial hardship at one time or another. The financial problems plaguing local and state governments in recent years have been sufficient by themselves to create serious problems for institutions across the country. At the very least, an institution's financial difficulties can lead to the…

Faculty members must understand the actual finances of educational institutions in order to achieve less biased allocations. Increased faculty awareness of total resources can help shift allocation patterns, making institutional resources more effective in accomplishing the mission of higher education. (MLW)

The relationship between the diverse problems of funding, administration, and enrollment programs on the one hand and specific curricular and instructional programs on the other are discussed. Enrollment declines in the humanities reflect changes in political economy. (MLW)

Factors common to the budgeting process in all institutions and influencing the degree and quality of faculty participation are outlined, including governance, budget cycles, levels of review, expenditure plans, sources of revenue, and hidden costs. Suggestions are given for enhancing both the substance and the timing of faculty participation.…

The assumption that universities derive financial benefits from intercollegiate athletics is false in most cases; sports programs can and often do drain large sums from the academic aspects of the budget. Institutional budgets can be deceptive. The case of the University of Maryland at College Park is an illustration. (MSE)

The art of retrenchment is in selecting among the available budgeting options that fit a given institution at a given time. One option that deserves increasing consideration is across-the-board cuts. In coping with student demands, institutions should also be concerned for curricular integrity and liberal learning. (MSE)

The American Association of University Professors' collective bargaining office and Collective Bargaining Congress are described. Their program includes services designed to prepare collective bargaining chapters to effectively address resource allocation issues that will be determined in contract negotiations. (MLW)