Responding to the cost debate, higher education must look carefully at all the ways its institutions serve the public, then work together to convey that message to labor, business and industry, public officials, school teachers, parents, and others, building constituencies among those with a stake in higher education's success. (Author/MSE)

An alternative system is proposed for college students: provide grants in the freshman year, reduce grants and small loans in the second, introduce work-study in the third along with reduced grants and loans, and further increase loan and reduce the grant with work-study in the fourth year. (MSE)

Ten issues most likely to influence institutions this year include tuition policy and financing, capital renewal and replacement, charitable giving, scientific equipment and laboratories, endowment management and spending policy, research funding, corporate contributions, minority enrollment and hiring, debt financing and debt capacity, and cost…

Trustees, it is suggested, should keep an eye out for burgeoning short-term debt, over-optimistic income estimates, hidden enrollment problems, student attrition, and loss of special revenue sources. The absolute size of a college is seen as a factor in making the decision to close. (MLW)