Effective card offices focus on bottom-line growth. “Two of the benefits we bring to our campus are cost reduction and revenue growth,” says John Beckwith, director of campus business services at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. For instance, before its single-card program launched in 1997, the campus had seven different cards for students to use, with […]
What aspects of customer service do campus card offices seem to do best with—and in what areas do they struggle the most? “Getting it right starts with the genuine belief that the services card offices provide have a positive—and lasting—influence on a student’s experience. We see more campuses focusing on this, and the positive impact […]
Community colleges have been in the news during the current election cycle, due to plans by some politicians—including President Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders—who suggest the federal government should provide free education for any citizen willing to put in the bookwork. But so far this is just talk for colleges, which have yet to plan […]
Eight years ago administrators laying plans for Guttman Community College in New York City set a goal: This school would not be like so many other community colleges with low completion rates. Guttman would make getting students to graduation a primary mission. That approach is proliferating across the community college sector, says Melinda Mechur Karp, assistant […]
With college students increasingly calling on schools to divest endowments from fossil fuels, Becker College in Massachusetts became the first institution to mandate that all of its investments generate a positive impact on society—and a targeted financial return. “As a college that is educating the next generation of global citizens, prepared to solve our most pressing social […]
Effective collaboration between administration, academic officers and faculty is crucial for effective leadership at colleges and universities. Enrollment levels, academic freedom, financial viability and student success could all be affected if these individuals don't team up to develop and implement an effective strategy. I recently had firsthand experience on how close collaboration between the chief […]
The new higher education alliances cropping up are not just of the regional variety. A group of private colleges and universities created a consortium in fall 2015 to negotiate better deals on enterprise resource planning systems, which can account for up to 4 percent of an institution’s entire annual budget. The Higher Education Systems and […]
After six colleges and universities in the Boston Consortium launched a self-insurance program in 2012, healthcare costs at Wheaton College ceased their upward spiral. Health premiums at the small liberal arts college had been increasing by 7 percent annually, but now costs have remained flat for the past four years. “We’ve changed the trend line […]
Meredith College, celebrating its 125th anniversary, recently adopted a new brand—"Going Strong"—that reflects its reputation, enrollment and financial strength. While Meredith's fundraising and application rate are the highest in our history, several other women's colleges have recently either gone coed or closed. Questioning the relevance of women's colleges is a bit obvious—and not so easy […]
At first glance, Deyven Ferreras looks like a typical university student: youthful face, college sweatshirt, backpack. But until recently, his backpack carried more than books. Quite literally, it was his lifeline. Inside was a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a mechanical pump that helped his weakened heart move blood throughout his body. Ferreras, a second-year […]
