Economy

Yes. Every OneAccount is insured by the FDIC, currently for amounts up to $250,000.

Pennsylvania College of Technology has always used in-house programmers to develop its administrative and enrollment programs with great success. At one time the college was even considering designing its own electronic refund system.

WHEN ANALYZING FINANCIAL AID strategies for our clients, one of the questions we always ask is “Are you at capacity?” For many institutions, this is a difficult question to answer, and often we hear different answers from different corners of the campus.

As colleges and universities face the sobering realities of the economic crisis, one has to wonder: Is higher education approaching the perfect storm?

For many universities, funding allocations are at maximum levels, while some legislatures are already instituting significant budget cuts. Endowment levels for public and private institutions are questionable as economic woes curtail benefactors’ ability to give. And costs on everything from fuel to health insurance continue to increase with no end in sight.

THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN is sweeping the nation, affecting nearly everything and everyone. Financial aid is no different. The shaky economy has sparked several trends threatening to place unprecedented strains on financial aid programs and budgets.

Of all the fallout from the new IRS 403(b) regulations, probably the most important and pressing decision the regulations created for not-for-profit plan sponsors is how many active service provider relationships they want to have. The argument has been framed as a choice between exclusive single vendor relationships versus multiple vendor relationships. While plan sponsors struggle over this decision and examine the relative merits of both arrangements, plan providers are actively lobbying for an outcome that aligns best with their own solutions.

THE WORLD’S FINANCIAL markets spent the latter part of 2008 in an unprecedented state of volatility. Pictures of frazzled and depressed traders became one of the worst clichés in the news because they seemed to run every day.

A USA TODAY HEADLINE states, “Tuition Hikes Will Ease.” The article opens, “The price tag for college tuition is continuing to climb this year, but experts are predicting less sticker shock than in the past two years.”

AS MANY UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS are painfully aware, the economic struggles facing much of the nation are beginning to take their toll on higher education.

THESE ARE UNCERTAIN ECONOMIC TIMES, to be sure. When the stock market can both take its largest point plunge and post its largest gain within the space of a week, the term “rollercoaster economy” seems a gross understatement. But there are some industries that are usually seen as recession proof, and education is one of them.