Economic news today is filled with discussion about whether the United States has entered a recession. For the author and other presidents of public colleges and universities, whether the downturn can be labeled a recession is far less important than dealing with the effects of economic conditions on institutions. During hard times, both public…

Times are very tough. The great majority of colleges are looking at 2009 and 2010 and beyond, in anticipation of the deepest budget cuts in more than a generation. But as bad as the financial situation may be, colleges can survive if they take swift and strong emergency action. It is time for some straight talk, starting with the realization that…

Discusses ways to overcome the financial crisis facing many universities in developing countries, including providing greater resources to higher education; raising tuition; privatizing higher education; admitting only the best candidates; attracting foreign students; requiring graduates' employers to compensate universities; linking industry and…

This report attempted to measure the impact of 2 years of budget cuts on the University of California and the California State University systems. The research involved review of a variety of budget documents, analysis of planning done to cope with budget cuts, and interviews with local campus and systemwide officials and knowledgeable sources in…

States that learning assistance centers are often caught in the throws of controversy at institutions of higher education. Examines some of the causal contributors to this controversy in an attempt to help learning assistance professionals identify the strategies necessary to preserve their centers' integrity in good and difficult financial times.…

The author lampoons twenty-first-century academic priorities. Using a fictional campus facing state-mandated budget reductions, the author parodies a system that retains high-salaried administrative and public relations positions, special-interest majors, athletic programs and junior/ad-hoc faculty, while relinquishing admissions staff, library…

This paper, one in a series about the priorities of the professoriate, discusses issues of financial exigency and how they have an impact upon decisions regarding layoffs of tenured college faculty. The intent of the discussion is to encourage higher education institutions to clearly define the operational guidelines used when layoffs of tenured…

A challenge now faced by dental school administrators is to maintain the feasibility of federally funded postdoctoral general dentistry residency programs when institutional, educational, and economic priorities stretch institutional limits. Some existing programs can offer ideas and insights through their diverse and nontraditional funding…

Addresses the many issues community colleges currently face, including decreased state and federal funding, increased competition from for-profit colleges, the digital divide, and enrollment and retirement trends. Suggests that institutions interact with their environments in better, fundamentally different ways. (Contains 14 references.) (NB)

Small increases in research and development funding and the state of the economy pose serious challenges to research universities. It is unlikely that the financial pressures will moderate. Research universities will be challenged to downsize by restructuring resources without compromising their quality. (Author/MSE)

It is suggested that health professional schools are often dominated by the politics of the medical school, as has been the case in the health sciences at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Experiences of the fields of optometry, podiatry, and dentistry are offered as illustrations. (MSE)

The radical restructuring of Alaska's public higher education system, brought on by Alaska's 1986 economic collapse, is described. It is significant because it is the most dramatic general funding reduction to an entire state public higher education system since World War II. Six sections discuss the following: (1) introduction to the University…

The authors argue that a recently proposed Minnesota policy for implementing full-cost tuition in selected practitioner master's degree programs in state institutions is counterproductive. The proposed policy is examined as a case study of probable supply and demand effects on student enrollments and institutional vitality. (Author/MSE)

Discusses tribal colleges' struggles with lower-than-promised federal appropriations, including difficulties related to governance and planning and the threat of closure. Describes possible alternate means of funding, such as forward funding one year in advance, funding from state governments, and private funding from tribal governments or private…

Five college and university trustees and administrators explain how their institutions are approaching tuition containment. Issues the institutions have addressed in this context include need-blind admissions policy, using the Consumer Price Index as a budgeting criterion, enrollment changes, relationships with service vendors, personnel policy,…