A suggestion is made for institutions to offer a discount on tuition payments made one year in advance by parents or other relatives. Financial benefits to both the institution and the payer are noted. (LBH)

Colleges and universities have special budgetary needs and problems and while their business support systems can benefit from many cost-saving measures, their core operations--teaching and research--cannot. Colleges are labor-intensive, must stay abreast of knowledge, must adjust to inflation and have been increasing student aid. (MLW)

Participants in the tuition-setting process lean toward "aggressive" pricing strategies because they want to maintain or improve quality, assure continued vitality, and keep the campus in good repair. Recent trends in tuition pricing are reviewed and some elements of budgetary strategies predicted on tuition increases above inflation are examined.…

While the price of a college education is rising, the vast majority of families with children in college do not face an appreciably higher burden relative to income than they did 5 years ago. The cost of college is compared with the income of families who have college age children. (MLW)

Because of the excess supply of student spaces relative to the number of students able or willing to pay posted tuition prices at private colleges, many schools have been using financial aid to compete for students. However, schools like Muskingum College (Ohio) are now reaching the limit of this strategy and are implementing major…

Since the financing of college costs is the single most important issue for U.S. families, public colleges and universities need to implement such changes as Michigan State University's "tuition guarantee" policy (which ensures tuition increases will not exceed inflation during a student's four-year college career) and to make tough…

The recent trends in college costs could have a number of far-reaching public policy implications. A growing inability to pay for costs could lead more students to make their educational choice on the basis of price, shifting from the private to the public sector. (MLW)

Capital finance, once limited to financing physical plant, today includes all assets and aspects of institutional life. It now encompasses a wide range of approaches and techniques including pooled debt, capital leases, futures contracts, equity investments, and research partnerships. (MLW)

Alternative models of tuition assessment must be developed that will help preserve the low-tuition principle, stimulate student migration, and maintain the favored position of resident students in fee structures. (Author)

America's economic difficulties, and therefore higher education's fiscal problems, will not respond quickly to change. Institutions must look for additional revenue sources, including tuition, philanthropy, and increased enrollment. Colleges need to acknowledge the reality of the situation, define missions carefully, make hard choices, address…

Federal policy for financing student aid is less equitable today than ever before. If college costs are high, the costs of an expanded uneducated lower class will be higher. College access and choice will become increasingly remote for low-income students unless increased resources can be provided. (MLW)

Inadequate financial support for higher education is not due to a poor economy or lack of tax dollars, but to the low priority given to higher education by state legislatures. The issue at state and institutional levels is not low or high tuition but finding a planning model that integrates tuition income, tax support, and student aid. (MSE)

One college administrator's experience in a professional development program with Polish university administrators is described. Aspects of Polish higher education (finance, professional development for administrator, the student-faculty relationship, relationship of the university with alumni and the community) were found to provide perspective…