Is the Financial Crisis Enough to Spur Real Transformation?
Plesae scroll down to your SCUP Link, below this notice about SCUP–45.
Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time. Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.
SCUP Link This is a topical area we will return to soon, in "SCUP Email News" and on the SCUP Links Blog. Meanwhile, writing in Business Officer Margo Vanover Porter has spoken with some higher education leaders who think that the recession just might be creating a slippery slope to change. [T]the faltering economy has forced higher education to undergo a significant evolutionary shift, with numerous pockets of campus innovation and experimentation emerging. “The financial jolt of the credit crunch and recession, along with anticipated dramatic shifts in student demographics, is accelerating the pace at which institutions are exploring new financial and educational delivery models,” he says. “In the past year, we have seen a jump in three-year bachelor's degree programs, so-called no-frills satellite campuses, and academic partnerships between four-year private colleges and local community colleges. These efforts are being watched very closely by presidents and trustees across the nation" . . . Martin Van Der Werf, former director, Chronicle Research Services, Washington, D.C., agrees that the way in which education is delivered, what students learn, and how students experience college are all shifting. But, he believes the changes are too broad and too fundamental to attribute to current economic conditions . . . “There is a rethinking of the way education is being delivered,” he says, “but I don't know if the financial crisis could be isolated as a single factor producing these changes. The financial crisis is encouraging students and families to question what they were already questioning, such as the delivery model, the cost of college, and the difficulty in obtaining a degree. The recession is merely accentuating what people were already thinking.”
SCUP's Planning Institute: Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers while you engage in one of the three SCUP Planning Institute Steps. In addition to being offered on demand, on campuses to teams of campus leaders, the institute steps are also offered to all professionals at varying times and venues. Currently scheduled are: - May 22–23, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
- July 10, Minneapolis, MN - Step I (in conjunction with SCUP–45)
- October 2, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
- January 21–22, Tempe, AZ - Step II and Step III
Labels: change, financial crisis, recession, transformation
What Lags Well Behind Recovery to Full Employment? State Funding for Higher Ed!
Plesae scroll down to your SCUP Link, below this notice about SCUP–45.
Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time. Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.
SCUP Link SCUP's Board of Directors met in Ann Arbor last weekend. The meeting kicked off with a presentation by Dennis Jones (of NCHEMS) highlighting the very serious financial position higher education institutions are in, especially public institutions. As Jones put it, we all know that unemployment is a lagging indicator. And collection of state sales taxes lags unemployment recovery. Plus, funding from the state for higher education lags increased state revenues and is simultaneously fighting with other state entities for a share of that budget. Mix into that, that financial-institution-based recessions are the slowest to recover, and the picture for higher ed indicates a slow recovery, and maybe never a full recovery in terms of state funding. As The Chronicle of Higher Education reports, it seems as though Standard & Poors agrees.
SCUP's Planning Institute: Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers while you engage in one of the three SCUP Planning Institute Steps. In addition to being offered on demand, on campuses to teams of campus leaders, the institute steps are also offered to all professionals at varying times and venues. Currently scheduled are: - May 22–23, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
- July 10, Minneapolis, MN - Step I (in conjunction with SCUP–45)
- October 2, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
- January 21–22, Tempe, AZ - Step II and Step III
Labels: financial crisis, recession, recovery, state support
Campus Cuts: A New and Timely Blog from The Chronicle of Higher Education
Plesae scroll down to your SCUP Link, below this notice about SCUP–45.
Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time. Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.
SCUP Link A new blog to pay attention to at The Chronicle of Higher Education, especially for SCUPers in resource and budget planning areas: Campus Cuts is its name. Recent posts include items on how the University of Houston plans cuts in "office supplies, travel, and cellphone allowances, as well as a one-day systemwide furlough, a hiring freeze, and deferred maintenance"; the University of California Santa Cruz cuts its community-studies major, possibly closing it; Tennessee Tech University eliminating "two teams -- rifle and women's tennis -- as part of a university plan to reduce financial support to athletics by up to $365,000"; University of Texas System laying off "23 employees of UT TeleCampus, its central distance-education arm, which is being shut down"; and Stony Brook University "[w]ill close close residence halls, eliminate some programs, and suspend new freshman admissions at its recently acquired Southampton campus, which is focused on sustainability curricula."
SCUP's Planning Institute: Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers while you engage in one of the three SCUP Planning Institute Steps. In addition to being offered on demand, on campuses to teams of campus leaders, the institute steps are also offered to all professionals at varying times and venues. Currently scheduled are: - May 22–23, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
- July 10, Minneapolis, MN - Step I (in conjunction with SCUP–45)
- October 2, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
- January 21–22, Tuscon, AZ - Step II and Step III
Labels: budget cuts, campus cuts, financial crisis, resource and budget planning
Department Planning: Fiscal Crises and the Question of Community
Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time. Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.
SCUP Link One department at UNC, when planning for budget cuts, asked itself some discerning questions about "community": "Who are we as a department? To whom are we responsible? Where does that responsibility begin and end from professional, personal, and fiscal standpoints?" Here's what they did:Are those solutions universally applicable? No. Will they completely satisfy everyone in our department? No again. Indeed, given the continuing context in which we live and work, such measures may only provide a short-term solution.
However, one overall lesson surprised us in our move against the increased dependence on adjuncts in academe: The practice, we found, could be unpragmatic, creating misleading expectations and difficult ambiguities over responsibility within our community, and at a cost.
Fiscal crises introduce situations and feelings that create discomfort for people seeking the life of the mind—uncertainty, worry, disappointment, and vulnerability. Matters of the heart tend to interrupt intellectual pursuits that we typically follow in isolation from one another on a day-to-day basis.
SCUP's Planning Institute: Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers while you engage in one of the three SCUP Planning Institute Steps. In addition to being offered on demand, on campuses to teams of campus leaders, the institute steps are also offered to all professionals at varying times and venues. Currently scheduled are: - May 22–23, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
- July 10, Minneapolis, MN - Step I (in conjunction with SCUP–45)
- October 2, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
- January 21–22, Tuscon, AZ - Step II and Step III
Labels: departmental planning, financial crisis, resource and budget planning, SOregion, UNC
Raise Tuition and Enrollment Both, Now?
 Please note that this blog entry may or may not be further fleshed out than what you see right now.The intensity of the protests in California also raises questions about why officials there did not make the less difficult decision of maintaining or increasing enrollments without raising tuition fees, or raising them modestly. This is a strategy that more public and institutional officials across the country and around the world should consider as they deal with continuing shortfalls in public funding for higher education. Arthur M. Hauptman argues that public institutions should examine carefully the option of increasing enrollments and raising tuition rather than holding tuition steady and capping enrollments. He examines four options: Capping enrollments and cutting sosts; Changing the mix of enrollments; Increasing tuition fees for existing students; and Increasing enrollments while maintaining current tuition fees. Follow this link to more information.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: costs, enrollment, financial crisis, recession, tuition
From SHEEO: Stimulus Helped But State Schools In Trouble
SHEEO, the State Higher Education Executive Officers organization, has released its State Higher Education Finance FY2009 report. We have four pertinent links for you: From Stripling: "As enrollments soared and state dollars dried up, the temporary fix of federal stimulus money staved off significant financial losses for higher education that are still yet to be fully realized." From Kelderman: "[S]tates will have a harder time restoring spending on higher education after this downturn than they have in past recessions. Per-student state appropriations have generally recovered after past recessions, but the current economic situation presents greater hurdles"
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: financial crisis, funding, recession, resource and budget planning, SHEEO, states, stimulus
Driving Your Budget Message
Writing in University Business, president John J. "Ski" Sygieski of Mt Hood Community College (and chair-elect of the American Association of Community Colleges) shares a few useful items about how to best communicate about budget issues:We’ve all heard the phrase “communication is a two-way street,” and in the best of times, that street is wide open, allowing communication to pass freely between individuals. However, when budget crises arise or times otherwise get tough, the street seems to narrow. People get nervous, and there is much more anxiety involved in the communication process. If the street is suddenly closed because administration is fearful of communicating bad news, there is a massive traffic jam and accidents and fatalities begin to occur. Whether good or bad, institutions must embrace the “communication is a two-way street” philosophy and stay connected with their constituents.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: academic leadership, community colleges, financial crisis, recession, resource and budget planning
Recession, Recission, and Recovery: Resource Planning and Problem Solving
The following information was copied from the SCUP–45 Preconference Workshops Page on February 1, 2010. Always go to that page for the very latest information. Also, the first iteration of a complete PDF of the entire SCUP–45 Preliminary Program is now available here (PDF). Sunday, July 11, 2010, 8:00 AM–1:00 PM Presenter(s): Thomas Anderes, Senior Vice President, Administration & Fiscal Affairs, University of Wisconsin System Audience: Planners who wish to increase their ability to use financial analysis tools to better align resources on campus. Every indication is that a continued reduction in fiscal resources will be experienced throughout higher education for the foreseeable future. How do you rebalance and learn new approaches to using fiscal strategy to meet your mission? This session provides hands-on, collaborative experience in applying a multidimensional framework that integrates the analysis of key issues and stakeholder expectations, in determining the realignment of resources within alternative scenarios. Working in small groups, participants will assess complex problems in balancing program and budgetary objectives with tools that can be used immediately on their campuses. Learning Outcomes: - Utilize data to determine the program and resource implications of the economic downturn on your campus and how they affect the delivery of programs and services.
- Identify sources of information (evidence) that drive resource decison making.
- Describe organizational and committee processes/interactions and outcomes that contribute to resource planning and allocations.
- Connect evolving financial conditions with program expectations.
- Develop plans to realign resource allocations and adapt to a changing economic environment.
TAGS: Performance Measures, Finance, Budget, integrated planning, Resource allocation COST: $250 USD
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: financial crisis, recession, resource and budget planning, stimulus
Endowments 2010: Risk Management, Liquidity, Stewardship
The title says it all: Endowments 2010: Risk Management, Liquidity, Stewardship. Opening year-end statements this year isn't quite as scary as it was last year, but endowment managers still face the need to recover from this recession. And they're going to do it without a return to the former "normal." Commonfund and NACUBO are now also tracking endowment performance. Preliminary data for the fiscal year ending June 2009, with 504 institutions out of a base of 800 having responded to a survey, shows that the results in aggregate are not as dire as they were for some marquee institutions. The average endowment was down 19 percent for the year ending in June; Harvard reported losses of 27.3 percent that year, while Yale lost 24.6 percent. Most institutions surveyed lost 22.5 percent from July 1, 2008 to November 30, 2008, which means that most participated in the market’s nascent recovery. Spending rates remained constant at an average of 4.3 percent of assets. The full study will be released on January 27.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: endowments, financial crisis, recession, resource and budget planning
Grapevine 2010: A Critical Juncture for Higher Education in the US
If you're trying to look deep into the crystal ball at the future of support for higher education from the state, the latest Grapevine* report will help clarify the situation, but it isn't pretty. And it seems like nearly everyone is expecting further cuts, not only in the current fiscal year but in the next one.
* Grapevine has compiled data on state tax support for higher education sinde 1960. This year, the Illinois State University's Center for the Study of Higher Education Policy (CSHEP), which manages Grapevine, has joined forces with SHEEO and folded in that organization's State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) project. The collected data is served up in a number of useful ways on the Welcome to Grapevine, Fiscal Year 2009-10 website.
Links Quoted from Lingenfelter: In summary, the dimensions of the current financial and enrollment crisis are: - More than 5% of FY 2010 appropriations are underwritten with federal stabilization funds that in many states are exhausted, or nearly so;
- State revenues have fallen at an unprecedented rate and a recovery will, at best, take many years according to the National Association of State Budget Officers; and
- Even with recent dramatic enrollment growth, current enrollments almost surely understate student demand, with many students who would otherwise enroll deterred by tuition increases and budget‐ driven enrollment caps and course cancellations.
But money and enrollment demand are not the only issues.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: financial crisis, policy, publics, recession, resource and budget planning, state support
From Lumina: Fostering Economic Recovery Through Postsecondary Education
In a piece subtitled, Three Ideas for a National Strategy to Rapidly Train Workers for New Economy Jobs, Jamie Meritsotis addresses federal policy implications for higher education in difficult financial times by proposing three "big ideas": Accelerated Associates Degrees, Seamless and Transparent Credentials, and Credit for Prior Learning. He suggests ways that federal policy could encourage and support each one. His conclusion: No single program or policy will solve America's current job crisis. But if implemented, these ideas could begin to pay for themselves very quickly. As postsecondary graduates enter or re-enter the job market, they'll do so at a higher income level—roughly 25 percent higher, according to 2007 Census figures. And each year, those increased earnings—earnings directly attributable to the investment in high-quality, workplace-relevant education—will add up. They will improve the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of Americans and their families. And that will benefit all of us.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: federal, financial crisis, policy, recession, stimulus, workforce development
Crisis in Florida Community Colleges?'
SCUP–45 offers CPEs for CPAs.
By Robert A. Jones in National Crosstalk: A very close look at Florida community colleges that begins with a rather exciting drama about the overloading of online registration at Miami-Dade College on June 17, 2009, but the bottom line is that when students get pushed out of the community colleges, they are pushed altogether out of higher education. The college’s registrar, Dulce Beltran, watched the electronic traffic jam with amazement from her home computer. She had never seen such a tide of humanity sweeping toward the college on registration night. Signing into the system as an administrator, she watched as classes filled with startling rapidity. She could also see that thousands of students were being shut out because of the overload, and with each passing minute, their chances of finding classes were diminishing. But it's worse than that: “The system has collapsed here,” said Padrón. “We can’t hire faculty to teach students, and our buildings are deteriorating and breaking down. Thousands and thousands of students have been turned away, which has never happened in our history. If we are forced to keep rejecting these students, I fear we are headed for some kind of social breakdown. You simply can’t deprive people of a way upward.” and: “I don’t want to exaggerate, but people come to work here every day with the goal of helping those who don’t have much,” said Montoya in his office next to Padrón’s. “To me, even our bureaucratic fights are interesting in that way. People don’t fight for salaries or travel or perquisites. They fight for classroom space or new desks, tools that can help the students. It becomes a passion, and it’s contagious.”
But the fact is, Miami Dade is still going broke. And the prospects for a rescue from Tallahassee appear slim.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: access, affordability, community colleges, financial crisis, Florida, Miami-Dade, recession
Is Your School Managing Its Way Through the Fiscal Crisis With a Through-Cycle Mind-Set?
This article from Business Officer magazine could have been titled, "Effectively Coping With the Financial Crisis on Your Campus Requires Integrated Strategic Planning." The author posits "a through-cycle mind-set—managing through the cycle, anticipating a recovery, and making investments to position the institution to be very successful when the recession is eventually over." There are some useful observations about how specific institutions are not just slashing budgets but continuing to make strategic investments in some areas despite cutting in others: - Arizona State University continues to make investments in key capital expansion and high-profile faculty;
- Despite laying off 400 employees and stopping $1B in capital projects, Stanford University continues with $2B of capital investment, including homes for faculty;
- Franklin & Marshal College is taking advantage of the employment market to increase its faculty by 20 percent; and
- CalTech decided not to do budget-"smoothing" things like salary freezes, instead opting for surgical cuts in staff and programs.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:
Labels: budget cuts, financial crisis, resource and budget planning, strategic planning, through-cycle
Surviving a Wild Financial Ride
Business Office "blurbs" this article as "Riding out a bucking financial market, institutions are re-evaluating endowment spending rates and carefully scrutinizing budgets." The author, Kenneth E. Reed, director of research and policy analysis for NACUBO, concludes: "While the Great Recession shows signs of abating, it is likely that the stock market and the broader economy will continue to buck college and university endowment managers in an uneven, unpredictable series of ups and downs. The message for all is to hold the reins firm to keep from being thrown from the saddle." Labels: endowments, financial crisis, recession, resource and budget planning
Cal State Schools Planning Quick Downsizing
Now SCUPers can connect on Facebook and on LinkedIn.
Two years ago, San Jose State University was working hard to increase enrollments. Last spring no transfers were allowed. Next year's incoming freshman class will be reduced by 2,500 students, even though applications were up this year by 48 percent. Systemwide, 40,000 student seats will be gone in 2010-11. Chancellor Charles Reed says "we cannot educate more students with $546M less money." SCUP conferences for the next few years will be loaded with planners sharing how they made all of the program changes needed to effectively handle a shrinking student body. SJSU says it will handle the surge in demand by becoming more selective, raising admission standards for entry into high-demand, or "impacted," majors. This is a more nuanced approach than last year, when any qualified California student who applied before Nov. 20 was accepted, but those who applied between Nov. 20 and 30 were accepted or wait-listed, based on where they lived. That policy triggered a barrage of angry phone calls to the SJSU admission office. Labels: academic planning, Cal State, California State System, CSU, downsizing, enrollment planning, financial crisis, resource and budget planning, shrinking
Two-thirds of Public Universities Undertaking Strategic Review of Core Activities Following 2009 Budget Cuts, APLU Survey Reveals
The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (now known as APLU) has released the results of its survey of member institutions, which are large, public institutions. Its report on the survey is titled Coping Strategics of Public Universities During the Economic Recession of 2009. (Since it officially began in 2007, we think it should be titled The Economic Recession of 2007-2010, but . . . what the heck.) The APLU says: Strategic reviews of core activities are underway or planned by two-thirds of the nation’s public research universities according to a survey of chief academic officers by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (A۰P۰L۰U). The survey focused on depth of budget cuts, strategies to close deficits, and impact on institutions and students at the nation’s 188 public research universities. The full report on the survey is here. Here's a report in the APLU's online newsletter, Public Voice, here's a direct link to the entire survey. Here's a summary of the survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education's Eric Kelderman and here's a summary by Inside Higher Ed's Jack Stripling. Jack wrote: While the survey suggests that some hard choices have already been made by public universities, the long-term solutions indicate universities are still more apt to conduct further reviews than announce permanent changes at this point. Indeed, 67 percent of respondents said they plan a strategic review of administrative structures, compared with just 22 percent that said they plan to permanently change staffing levels for tenured and tenure-track faculty. Labels: APLU, financial crisis, publics, recession, resource and budget planning, survey, universities
How Many Higher-Education Jobs Stimulus Saved Remains Unclear
Writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Eric Kelderman analyzes the recent White House OMB report on jobs saved by the federal stimulus package. Kelderman also spoke with a number of higher education officials in various states. The Nevada System of Higher Education, for example, counts approximately 2,100 jobs supported by the stimulus. Daniel J. Hurley, director of state relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said the public should definitely scrutinize how states and institutions are spending the stimulus money.At the same time, however, he has little doubt that the increased federal support has largely done its job of preventing job losses. "The recovery act certainly has done what was intended, by helping the institutions bridge the gap," Mr. Hurley said. "I don't think the money was actually a jobs stimulus, but it definitely has been a jobs-retention bill." Labels: federal, financial crisis, recession, resource and budget planning, stimulus
Economic Hits + Stimilus Funds, State by State: How Do They Add Up?
Obama Community College Proposal May Not Be Enough
Will $12B in federal funds work to cause an additional five million students to graduate from community colleges by 2020? Experts say that increased state and local funding is also needed: ''It's great that people are coming back to community colleges to get trained, but a student only brings about a third of the cost of their tuition.''Ivy Tech Community College President Thomas Snyder says his school can handle more growth in part by finding savings internally and relying on philanthropic and community donations. The school will not expand too much and find itself with empty classrooms if an economic turnaround slows future enrollment. ''We're cautious in making sure that we don't make expenditures on staffing, for example, or other critical areas that we can't sustain,'' Snyder says. Labels: California Community College System, cost, federal, financial crisis, funding, recession, resource and budget planning, stimulus
Spinning Straw Into Gold (at Community Colleges)
Nice - definitely worth a read before it goes behind password protection(!) - Business Officer article by Reagan Romall about how community colleges are innovating, changing, and leveraging existing products and services into better ones, that make more money, too. “We need to diversify our revenue base. Any business that doesn't do this won't survive,” says Larry Eisenberg, executive director, facilities planning and development, for the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD). “Fortunately, there are lots of opportunities out there that make sense, have low impact on existing resources, and are relatively lucrative.”AND As in the rest of Florida, budget cuts keep Polk State College, Winter Haven, seeking solutions to counter the crunch. Peter Elliott, vice president, administration and chief financial officer, says the college has experienced a 10 percent cut in state funding since 2006. That has not discouraged the college's leaders, says Elliott. He sees “hope on a daily basis” when he walks the campus and visits with students and staff. “You have to focus on what's important and talk with people. They have good ideas,” he says. In fact, seeking ideas from the community has helped Polk State generate substantial funds. Conversations with a local corporate training advisory board, the board of trustees, and local community groups have all yielded revenue-generating ideas. “Being engaged in the community around us has been quite productive,” says Elliott. Further, he says, “Crisis makes you focus on the central thing your college does; it makes you focus on teaching and learning.” By doing that, Polk State College has come up with some effective ideas to expand the reach of its learning programs to its financial advantage. Labels: budget and resource planning, financial crisis, innovation, recession
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