When endowment returns are way down, it's not exactly prudent to spend the same percentage of the endowment for institutional operations each year, with the assumption that target investment payoff percentages will return. And, right now, down they are. Endowment investment returns fell from an average of 15.5 percent for Fiscal Year 2014 to 2.4 […]
The traditional model of course content creation and distribution—textbooks written by faculty and publisher-produced—is being disrupted. New digital players and learning content formats—such as courseware, open educational resources and adaptive (or personalized) learning—promise lower costs and better outcomes. Based on a recent analysis of the course content ecosystem by the National Association of College Stores, […]
Carine Feyten Chancellor and president, Texas Woman's University Topic: Safety and security Trend: Campus safety certainly is going to get more attention from senior administration—and how we are perceived by prospective students and their families will impact their "buying decision." Finding the right balance of open and enjoyable campus life and controls that might mitigate […]
As colleges and universities move into 2016, campus finance leaders may wish for a crystal ball to help with preparations in the coming year. Unfortunately, a crystal ball is not in the budget. Most colleges and universities will continue to face financial hurdles, and although there is much crossover, certain issues will be more or […]
Higher ed leaders continue to seek ways to prove their institution's value to a shrinking pool of college candidates. In addition, a huge financial aid cloud hangs over everyone's heads: the one with that odd moniker of "prior-prior." While the hope is that FAFSA modifications will ultimately benefit students and institutions alike, 2016 is the […]
How is content changing in terms of diversity and affordability on campuses? "Content" used to be more narrow in scope, and referred pretty much exclusively to print textbooks. Today content can mean a wide variety of products, from traditional texts to interactive software. Content can come in a print or digital form, and be sold […]
Higher education is supposed to be a critical first step on the ladder that leads to economic mobility. But William Elliott and Melinda Lewis say that students often leave school with debilitating debt that delays or even prevents any upward climb on that ladder. The Real College Debt Crisis: How Student Borrowing Threatens Financial Well-Being […]
Numbers drive action in higher education. Whether they represent SAT scores, marketing leads, submitted applications, admitted students, tuition dollars, GPA, fundraising targets or graduating class size, numbers are used throughout your institution to make decisions and assess success. When you measure what you do, you end up doing what you measure more than anything else. […]
Academia's cyber preparedness (or lack thereof) has received less media attention than that of certain retailers and financial institutions, but nonetheless the cyber risks confronting universities are pervasive and alarming. Consider recent breaches suffered by educational institutions. At the University of Maryland, an outside source gained access to a secure records database that held information […]
The wave of first-generation and low-income students now seeking higher ed access is placing unprecedented financial strain on the full spectrum of liberal arts institutions, says James F. Jones, the interim president of Sweet Briar College. But while other higher ed leaders acknowledge this and other challenges, many say the shutting down this year of […]
