Examples are given of how United States universities are being affected by and coping with the declining revenues accompanying the current recession. The role of business officers in providing the facts, information, and guidance needed by an administration making retrenchment decisions is discussed. (DB)

This handbook, written primarily to help faculty members with little prior experience in college or university budgeting, provides a self-help approach to basic budgetary matters. It describes the kinds of funds and other accounting terms found in college and university budgets as well as the accounting principles governing colleges and…

Early retirement plans (ERPs) have recently been considered and implemented at a number of universities as a means to address their need to contain costs while simultaneously generating new ideas and energy within the institution through the revitalization of faculty ranks. This endorsement of ERPs by university administrators, however, is…

This report examines the change process at a regional university in achieving a higher level of excellence in all its programs and activities. Results from 30 interviews are discussed in explaining how this university endured a major retrenchment and survived and thrived while simultaneously contributing to the surrounding community's economic…

This report, part of a project called "Redesigning Higher Education", argues that a set of fundamental changes underlies the growing number of critical difficulties faced by higher education in the United States. It finds the governance structures of American higher education inadequate to deal with a changing and increasingly cost-conscious…

The lessons from the corporate experience of the 1980s, carefully applied, can strengthen the university in support of its mission. Those experiences, sifted and shaped for higher education, can help with the difficult tasks of downsizing, rightsizing, restructuring, streamlining, and decentralizing that confront the university in the 1990s. (MSE)

Effective college planning in a period of reduced resources requires that a comprehensive long-range plan, based on consensus, be in place before budgeting begins, so essential resources will not be damaged. The starting point for planning is a well-stated conception of the institution and of its subsystems and their interactions. (MSE)

This booklet for trustees of institutions of higher education offers guidelines for strategic financial decisions required in light of the financial challenges higher education faces in the 1990s and beyond. "Strategic response" is defined as a decision that requires changing a major policy, program, or practice and involves some risk. Five…

After Proposition 13 passed in California, a series of 19 major bills imposed fiscal limits on the K-12 school system. One action is assigning a fiscal advisor to assume control in a district in financial distress. Lists the symptoms of a financially ill school district and highlights 24 items of a recovery plan. (MLF)

Franklin and Marshall College (Pennsylvania) has used institutional mission, strategic planning, lessons learned from previous experience, and sound general management principles to guide reallocation of resources during a period of financial constraint. The objective was repositioning, not retrenchment, and the resulting academic program is…

A discussion of the ways in which college retrenchment planning is institution specific and political looks at how four institutions have shaped different retrenchment strategies. Challenges inherent in each strategy are examined, and practical suggestions are made for campus leaders facing retrenchment. (MSE)

The materials in this compendium are intended to assist counsel and administrators at institutions of higher education faced with the need to consider and plan for program closures. Some materials also deal with the closely related issues of financial exigency, faculty reductions, and reductions in force. Section I offers the following papers:…

Papers and panel discussions on a wide range of issues of concern to practitioners in the field of graduate education are presented in this conference report. The publication begins with the program of the meeting and then goes on to report the substance of three plenary and three concurrent sessions. Session titles are as follows: "A…

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study of the leadership of nine presidents who have accepted the risks and challenges of executive leadership in nine small Midwestern colleges. Focus is directed toward these presidents' risk-taking strategies with respect to the major leadership challenges of being a senior executive of a small…

The role of institutional budgeting strategies in promoting institutional change is examined, looking specifically at two budget components (general-purpose lump sums and earmarked funds). Experiences of the University of Utrecht (Netherlands) with internal competition for reduced funds as a means for stimulating change are discussed. (MSE)