There was a time when colleges and universities could put their best marketing message out to the masses, and wait for students to respond and express interest. Today, it's about being aggressive without being pushy, being more student-focused without being intrusive, and being more open to digital communication without sacrificing authenticity. It's a fine line […]
The academic landscape is fraught with risk—everything from hazardous chemicals and internal fraud, to flu outbreaks and budget shortfalls. It seems obvious that any college or university would invest effort to identify and rank its current top risks, if just to assign the right level of attention and resources to each. Yet many academic institutions […]
The temperature around higher education unionizing efforts often runs hot. Officials are reluctant to have outside labor groups on campus or to relinquish control over important personnel decisions—including pay, benefits and other sensitive employee issues. But should higher ed leaders fear unionization efforts? One primary area of worry for institutions whose employees are beginning to […]
Conservation on campus is about saving money and electricity at a time of lagging state funding and soaring global demand for power. Worldwide energy use is slated to jump 56 percent by 2040, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Meanwhile, students and faculty are increasingly well-versed in energy use and are demanding sustainable solutions. […]
West Virginia is the latest state to encourage college students to take 15 credits or more every semester so they can graduate on time. Sponsored by the nonprofit Complete College America, the “15 to Finish” campaign is already in 15 other states, most notably Hawaii, which first developed the program. In its first year, 2011-12, […]
Consider the accounting clerk who coordinates community events; the help desk manager who moonlights as an exercise coach; or even the campus registrar who is also a freelance writer. Colleges and universities are loaded with talent, yet many employees’ competencies unrelated to their job are virtually unknown. At a time when budgets are tight, activities […]
There’s a standard practice in academia that’s highly valued; yet, at many colleges and universities, the policies and procedures surrounding it haven’t changed in decades. Until now. The faculty sabbatical has been around since Harvard University first offered it to its teaching staff in 1880. Since then, sabbaticals have become a rite of passage for […]
“We include in our emails a link to a brief video that explains that we are counselors, not collectors, working on behalf of the college the borrower attended, and that we work with borrowers and their loan servicers to resolve their loan payment issues. The video invites the borrower to call us.” —Craig P. Anderson, […]
For today’s college students, on-the-go lifestyles present a challenge when it comes to finding time to eat, and, more specifically, eat well. In 2010, when Adriana Marie Reyes of The University of Arizona surveyed 219 undergraduate students for her honors thesis on what influences college students’ eating habits, 82 percent said they would eat healthier […]
A decline in high school graduates and students applying to more institutions are what one expert sees as the two main reasons more colleges and universities are struggling to meet their admission yield targets. The average yield rate among four-year colleges and universities fell from 42.9 percent in 2009 to 36.9 percent in 2012, according […]
