Deciding how to spend the nation's education dollars is a tremendous responsibility. It's easy to forget that this responsibility falls primarily to district leaders (sometimes with input from principals). Sometimes those decisions go well and schools beat the odds on student outcomes. Other times, they do not, and student outcomes lag. Sometimes…

Higher education in Central Europe has been scrutinised from many different perspectives during the last 30 years. In our analysis, we focus solely on Hungary and specifically on two key areas: governance and organisational structure. Using an analytical model proposed by Leisyte (2014), we analyse how the governance and organisational structure…

Despite massive cuts in state funding over the past thirty years, the University of California has managed to keep enrollment on pace with growth in population. With California's population projected to grow 22.5 percent (from 40 to 49 million by 2040), that will no longer be the case, unless UC is able to find a new funding model. Informed by the…

This study focused on student retention trends in institutional spending and student retention rates. The research also investigated the relationship between student retention and the student-to-faculty ratio. The sample was comprised of 14 publicly funded higher education institutions that had an M1Carnegie classification and were located in one…

Examining resource allocation practices, including savings, of charter schools is critical to understanding their financial viability and sustainability. Using 9 years of finance data from California, we find charter schools spend less on instruction and pupil support services than traditional public schools. The lower spending on instruction and…

The phenomenon of globalization has a significant impact on higher education, but the lack of a clear roadmap for how senior university officials should create and implement global engagement strategies and for how these approaches support (or impede) an organizational culture that fosters globalization remains a gap in knowledge in higher…

This paper evaluates the performance of national higher education systems in 48 countries as measured with 20 variables grouped under the four headings of Resources, Environment, Connectivity and Output. Rankings within each module are then combined into an overall ranking that is topped by the United States followed by Sweden, Canada, Finland and…

Colleges and universities continue to face significant fiscal challenges in the current recession. A review of ongoing campus facilities planning projects, coupled with a review of more than 30 recent campus master planning requests for proposals and the relevant literature, indicates that colleges and universities are finding innovative ways to…

This First Look report presents data on public elementary and secondary education revenues and expenditures at the local education agency (LEA) or school district level for fiscal year (FY) 2012.1. Specifically, this report includes findings from the following types of school finance data: (1) Revenue and expenditure totals by state and the 100…

This First Look report introduces new data for national and state-level public elementary and secondary revenues and expenditures for fiscal year (FY) 2012. Specifically, this report includes findings from the following types of school finance data: (1) Revenue and expenditure totals; (2) Revenues by source; (3) Expenditures by function and…

A sound education sector is fundamental for the economic, social, and political transformation of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC has achieved significant progress in its education sector over the last decade, demonstrating strong resilience following a particularly violent period in its history. The DRC's development trajectory…

It is widely believed that administrative expenditures in US higher education are growing too rapidly, particularly in relation to expenditures that are directly related to instruction, and that this so-called "administrative bloat" is a major factor in the rising cost of higher education. We argue that this perception of rapid growth is…

Nearly 400 colleges across the United States are about to be asked to disclose intimate financial details of their operations to the Internal Revenue Service. This article reports on a highly detailed financial questionnaire designed by the IRS for the first phase of its Colleges and Universities Compliance Project, which is part of a continuing…

In 2011, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed into law the South Carolina Higher Education Efficiency and Administrative Policies Act, maintaining the transparency and accountability that lead to increased academic quality and affordability at colleges and universities. It is in this context that ACTA (American Council of Trustees and…

Using resource dependency theory as a conceptual framework, this study explores the relationship between the financial context of four-year institutions and student persistence. This research reveals that student persistence is positively related to the percent of revenue derived from tuition and negatively related to percent of expenditures on…