The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) received a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in 2020 to explore the potential of open educational resources (OER) to reduce textbook costs for students at smaller and mid-sized independent colleges and universities, especially Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other…

Esports are not a conventional fit with a traditional model of college life. However, this has not stopped them from becoming extraordinarily popular, particularly among independent colleges. In the broader culture, esports have an entire ecosystem supporting them. International events can draw crowds in the hundreds of millions, and professional…

The popular image of college football is that of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I programs whose nationally known student athletes participate in televised bowl games before being drafted by the National Football League (sometimes entering the draft before finishing college). The salaries of Division I team coaches can…

Chief academic officers (CAOs) of independent colleges and universities are the principal leaders of their institutions' academic programs. As such, they oversee the core teaching, research, and academic service functions of their colleges and universities. They also often serve as the seconds-in-command of their institutions after the president;…

With student loan debt reaching approximately $1.6 trillion, many are concerned that student loans may be the next financial bubble to burst. CARES Act funding and U.S. Department of Education actions led to historically low levels of delinquency in 2020-2021. However, there is concern that issues will balloon as soon as governmental action and…

This analytical report responds to the current policy interest in some states in offering "tuition-free college" to income-eligible students attending certain public colleges and universities. In most cases only public two-year colleges are covered, although New York State's Excelsior Scholarship program also covers public four-year…

This report explores the financial resilience of independent colleges and universities through an analysis of 14 years (fiscal years 2001-2014) of financial data from 559 private nondoctoral institutions. Through analysis of financial performance in several domains, the data reveal that the majority of independent baccalaureate and master's-level…

The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) Consortium for Online Humanities Instruction was launched in 2014 with a series of specific questions about the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of online teaching and learning. As this report documents, many but not all of the questions were answered during the course of the project. Students and…

With student loan debt reaching approximately $1.5 trillion, many are concerned that student loans may be the next financial bubble to burst. They cite students with loans of more than $100,000 and ballooning loan default rates. They contend that borrowing for higher education may not be worth the financial risks. Some even argue that students…

With student loan debt reaching approximately $1.4 trillion, critics are concerned that student loans may be the next financial bubble to burst. They cite students with loans of more than $100,000 and ballooning loan default rates. They contend that borrowing for higher education may not be worth the financial risks, especially for students who…

America's diverse higher education landscape includes more than 700 four-year nonprofit colleges and universities that focus on baccalaureate education. These private nondoctoral (PND) institutions are located in almost every state and collectively enroll about 1.6 million students and award nearly 150,000 degrees annually, with the majority of…

The signature activity of the Council of Independent Colleges' (CIC) initiative, "Securing America's Future," was a series of eight workshops hosted by CIC member presidents on campuses across the nation in 2016-2017. The goals of these workshops were to help member colleges and universities prepare for the future more effectively and…

The 2014 Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) report, "Strengthening the STEM Pipeline: The Contributions of Small and Mid-Sized Independent Colleges," demonstrated the critical role this sector of higher education institutions plays in preparing its students for success in obtaining undergraduate and graduate degrees in science,…

This report provides empirical evidence about specific trends in faculty staffing, roles, and responsibilities at smaller private liberal arts institutions in the United States, with a focus on the more than 600 four-year colleges and universities that are members of the Council of Independent Colleges. It also addresses how the changing…

Living-learning communities combine curricular, co-curricular, and residential components of college life. They are a relatively new variation on the residential education that has been part of the undergraduate experience at America's independent colleges and universities for centuries. Research suggests that living-learning communities have a…