A reporter returned to his undergraduate institution, the University of Pennsylvania, to learn why tuition has risen so much in recent decades, and how the university spends the income. The complexity of administering the university enterprise is highlighted, and some perceived inequities are identified. Topics discussed include endowment funds,…

The Social Security Trustees project that the Social Security program faces longterm financing difficulties. Several proposals that have been offered to shore-up the finances of the Social Security program would create individual retirement accounts funded with part of the payroll tax. The authors of many of these proposals claim that future…

A survey conducted by the Higher Education Panel sought trends in various items of information about the financial condition of colleges and universities. A stratified sample of 760 insitutions was used, excluding major research universities. Information was requested on basic finance data, dormitory occupancy rates, occurrence of institutional…