Your morning probably started like many of your peers. The voice in your head asks, “What’s possible for today? What can I tackle on my to-do list toimprove learning environments? Where will I find the budget?” Easier said than done. Optimism can quickly be squashed by tight budgets, daunting deferred maintenance, and competing priorities – […]
“Parents need a thorough understanding of the costs related to college and the options for paying college expenses. The need for timely, understandable information is especially acute in households with no previous experience with the going-to-college process. Colleges often assume parents already have knowledge about budgeting for college, the cost of student loans and effective […]
Loan default rates and an expanding focus on student success have made strong student financial literacy efforts a higher ed norm. But as students and their parents continue to grapple with paying for school, money management lessons from colleges are becoming a family affair. “Encouraging students and their families to communicate about financial responsibilities and […]
Faculty and students at Bridgewater College in Virginia complained increasingly in recent years about the unavailability of textbooks at the campus bookstore. To control inventory, the store stocked only a percentage of materials required if everyone purchased what was expected. Campus business officers also noted a rapid decline in textbook revenue and related commissions, as […]
Despite the economic and demographic factors that indicate challenging times ahead for higher ed, campuses across the country are busy building, according to a survey of college and university leaders by UB. The survey took a look at the inspiration behind campus construction efforts and the overall institutional impact of the projects. With student enrollment […]
The variety of challenges facing enrollment leaders are well documented: changing demographics, increased competition for students, scarce outcome data— and the list goes on. Resources are also limited, and so it is critically important for enrollment managers to measure the ROI of the initiatives they take and then adjust as necessary. Collaboration within the enrollment […]
Students at Arizona State University today have access to a service-oriented financial assistance website that provides guidance on college planning. It offers cost calculators, links to scholarships and budget planning, and easy access to financial aid office staff. It’s an approach that works—and the result of using analytics to unearth a treasure trove of website […]
Snow College’s latest travel policy included new, logical restrictions. For example: Employees would be reimbursed only for for hotel stays on days that matched an event’s agenda, and they could no longer expense a first-class airline seat. The Utah college got lots of comments—about three-quarters of them negative—when the regulations were posted for a 30-day […]
The Great Recession of 2007-08 had a profound impact on both public and private universities. In How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Jeffrey R. Brown, a finance professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and co-editor Caroline M. Hoxby, a Stanford economics professor, examine universities […]
What types of people at your school are not saving for retirement? Young employees? Low-income earners? Maybe single parents with children? Several years ago, Linda Nilsen needed to know. As the executive director of benefits and compensation at Princeton University, she analyzed the non-savers—about half of the school’s 6,000 employees. To her surprise, there were […]
