Increasing use of credit on college campuses raises important policy questions and planning needs. Credit and debit card use varies, and most institutions are studying, experimenting, and inventing uses. Although use of credit improves cash flow, streamlines payments and services, and increases income, there are also costs to the institution. (MSE)

The practices that have made community colleges successful must now be reassessed, and basic commitments must be adjusted to reflect current societal values and educational needs. They include commitments to access, responsiveness, low price and convenience, and willingness to be different from traditional institutions. (MSE)

The proportion of college students commuting to campus grows steadily. Nonetheless, many colleges still think in terms of the residential tradition. A model of institutional adaptation can be used to assess and change college environments for this population. The model focuses on access to institutional programs, basic services, and support. (MSE)

The North American Free Trade Agreement and internal changes in Mexico will promote change in Mexican higher education. Higher education in the United States can and should play a supportive role in helping enrich Mexico's intellectual life and research, which would in turn benefit U.S. interests as well. (MSE)

This article focuses on the future physical layout of the university in view of the profound social and cultural changes of our time that are affecting the structure of higher education in general and universities in particular. We suggest that the basic architectural prototypes of university design should be re-examined in view of these changes.…

The changing role of the academic institution in relation to its environment is reviewed in terms of student constituents, white collar employees, geographic neighborhood, and professionals. An "androgogical" rather than "pedagogical" approach to community knowledge development and transfer, and ways for university planners to make academe more…

A nationwide survey of all users (400) of CAMPUS, PLANTRAN, RRPM, and SEARCH conducted in 1975 by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst examined the extent of model use and their effectiveness. This paper reports a follow-up study on user support for models and opinions of preconditions for future use. (LBH)

Southwest Missouri State University has approached the integration of planning and budgeting by focusing on short-term priority setting and using an eight-step model for evaluating decision alternatives. (MSE)

The history of planning in higher education and what has been learned from it are reviewed, and four revolutions (demographic, educational, technological, and competitive) and their implications for planning in higher education are discussed. (MSE)

In light of the complexity of the administrative conditions in higher education institutions, academic planners must prepare for the 1980s by increasing their understanding of the institution as a political system and learning to plan under conditions of economic adversity and intense political action. (MSE)

In 1974 the Task Force of the National Council of Independent College and Universities sought means of reducing tuition costs to students in the private sector and of thus ensuring the vitality of a pluralistic system of higher education in the U.S. This article is a discussion of the public-private dialogue in the light of Task Force…

Some basic conceptual tools, knowledge, and experience that help evaluate needs for a management support system (MSS) to meet the planning and management challenges in academe are presented. An MSS must integrate the planning, control, forecasting, modeling, reporting, computing, and data administration functions of the system. (MLW)

A strategy for the future, selected by the faculty and administration at California State University Dominguez Hills--designed to achieve a balance among projected enrollments, resources, educational programs, and faculty and staff appointments--is described. Program integrity and viability were defined and studied. (MLW)

A Western Carolina experiment examined what kinds of data could be obtained from students that could (1) help make physical facility planning more objective and factual and (2) determine what the academic or learning consequences of these decisions might be. Focus was on student use of time and facilities. (Author/MLW)

Firm planning objectives, clearly stated relationships to overall institutional objectives, faculty involvement, and active leadership are advocated for successful academic planning. Faculty involvement is dependent on the strength of the technical, marketing, and budgeting staffs, and involvement in the planning process may kindle faculty…