Small colleges and universities serve a profoundly important role in American society. They provide the rigorous, personalized experience that is the hallmark of the best of higher education. In the process, they build opportunity and encourage civic engagement among a new generation of citizens. The landscape for these institutions has changed…

College administrators in small and specialized colleges with a narrower margin for financial planning need a management process that continually renews the institution's sense of direction while ensuring that plans are matched to available resources. (MSE)

Presents methods and findings of a study of finances, programs, costs, curriculum, and innovative practices at 160 small rural colleges, including comparative data on a small sample of nonrural and large community colleges. Finds small colleges receiving special consideration from funding sources and program diversity related to enrollment size.…

While the elite private colleges may survive the enrollment declines of the 1980's and 1990's, the less elite, so-called invisible private colleges may have more difficulty. Finance, enrollment, and competition are the three major elements seen to threaten these institutions' futures. They face an uncertain financial future since historically they…

A former faculty member at Eisenhower College, an experimental college that closed after only a few years' operation, gives an anecdotal account of some of the problems the college faced and how the administration handled them. (MSE)

A case study of financial turnaround at the highly specialized New England Conservatory of Music describes five strategies to balance costs and resources within the framework of the school's objectives. Areas of cost minimizing and revenue maximizing are outlined and discussed. (MSE)

The efforts and problems of Occidental College, a small, selective liberal arts college in Los Angeles, to bridge the gap between the college and the multicultural city by substantially increasing minority enrollment and faculty are discussed. Lack of faculty and administrative support and the declining applicant pool are among the barriers to…

A self-study of Findlay College, Ohio, which was prepared for the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools for reaccreditation purposes, is presented. After a preliminary chapter outlining the mission and goals of the college, attention is directed to: instructional programs, community programs and resources, students and student…