When students at the University of Georgia returned from winter break five years ago, they inundated the campus computer network with a wave of electronic holiday gifts—smart phones, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles and mini-computers. Within a matter of days, the students had overloaded the computer system and shut it down. The information technology department quickly […]
New football teams continue to take the field at colleges and universities each fall, overcoming criticism—from within higher ed and from outside—that sports programs not only suck up money desperately needed by academic departments but also drive up tuition and student fees. Some experts also predict that the wave of lawsuits the NCAA faces could push […]
A public healthcare crisis thrust Southern Methodist University into the spotlight in September when a Liberian man visiting Dallas was diagnosed with the Ebola virus. The hospital where Thomas Eric Duncan was treated and later died—Texas Health Presbyterian—is less than four miles from SMU's campus. It's a facility where students are transported for emergency medical […]
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 […]
Dealing with covering financial shortfalls in student packages, managing tuition refunds and providing excellent customer support with small staffs are common problems business offices face. This web seminar, originally broadcast on May 8, 2014, featured a financial leader who explained how her institution adapted department policies as enrollment continued to rise. She also discussed the […]
The goal of retaining students—and seeing them through to degree completion—has become the focus of numerous research initiatives, articles, technology solutions and intervention strategies. While most of the studies reach very different conclusions, most researchers seem to agree that no one factor holds the key to student persistence. How can higher education leaders accurately predict […]
Rising student debt and lack of financial literacy among college students are issues of growing concern to higher ed leaders, particularly those focused on non-academic drivers of student success. In this web seminar, presenters discussed the findings of a major national study conducted by Everfi Inc. and sponsored by Higher One Inc., Money Matters on […]
As technology advances and students remain on the cutting edge, colleges and universities have no choice but to keep up. That means ensuring that students can access the information they need, whenever they need it, from whatever device they choose. This creates an array of challenges for institutions, from increased volume of help desk calls, […]
Donald Farish President, Roger Williams University, Rhode Island Topic: Tuition and financial aid Trend: Well over half of the nonprofit private colleges failed to meet either their enrollment or revenue targets this fall. Despite this, I predict that the overwhelming majority of these schools will continue to increase both tuition and discount rates next year, […]
What cutting-edge devices are going to demand campus bandwidth in the near future? The 21st century versions of two old stand-bys: the refrigerator and the wrist watch. Sure, there will still be plenty of laptops, tablets and smartphones crowding the Wi-Fi, but the "internet of things" and wearable technology are coming to campus, forcing CIOs […]
