Financial policies are viewed as buffers that protect the core activities of a college from fluctuation and that maximize the return of investments in all areas. Assumptions necessary for making financial policies are detailed and a strategy is outlined for developing financial policies that mesh with institutional plans. (Author/MLW)

The University of Montana's University Planning Council is an illustration of the integration of the planning and budgeting process into the institution's decision-making process, with broad constituent participation. (MSE)

If properly handled, reallocation can provide a rich opportunity for enhancing quality, but there is no easy way to reallocate resources. Planning will remain the key to resolving the thorniest issues of reduction. (Author/MLW)

Modern scientific management techniques provide college administrators with valuable planning and resource allocation insights and enhances the decision process. The planning model should incorporate assessment, strategic planning, dynamic and long-term budgeting, operational planning, and feedback and control for actual operations. (MSE)

The concept of environmental management to assure that the allocation of resources for facilities will be closely linked to the management of the financial resources and personnel of an institution is described. Change in the objectives and processes of resource allocation are seen as necessary for effective facility use. (Author/MLW)

This article urges leaders at institutions of higher education to analyze the decision to pursue a Total Quality Management improvement strategy in the same way as any other strategy--as a return on investment. Evidence of costs and benefits of TQM from industry and campus is summarized, and barriers to a "return on quality investment" mindset are…

Reallocation of positive reductions in staffing and urgent retrenchments will require a consistently open process. A forced-choice decision-making environment will focus greater attention on the legitimacy and trustworthiness of the decision-making process. (Author/MLW)

Redirection of resources is an effective means of replying to institutional decline and managing conditions for growth. Ohio Wesleyan University used admissions spending and emphasis to increase student revenue, build reserves, and achieve specific objectives. Successful gift solicitation and issuance of debt can provide funds for other goals.…

College administrators in small and specialized colleges with a narrower margin for financial planning need a management process that continually renews the institution's sense of direction while ensuring that plans are matched to available resources. (MSE)

Faculty will participate in renewal when there is clear evidence that opportunity exists for change in the structure and functioning of academic programs and services and that status quo management may damage the institution's integrity. Faculty must also understand the scope and application of financial information shaping the resource flow. (MSE)

Recommendations that would improve the quality of undergraduate education and that impinge on the budget at the state and institutional levels are examined. The current role of the budget in promoting student learning and development and how budget policies can be changed to foster higher quality learning are discussed. (MLW)

University computing is in rapid and continuing change. What is needed are structures and procedures flexible and adaptable enough to capture new opportunities and stable enough to allow order in each transition. This must involve all parts of the institutional community and include both centralized and decentralized participation. (Author/MSE)

Political factors that will affect whether quality issues can continue as part of the active policy agenda are examined, including the politics of comparative standards, quality improvement, institutional control, and specific quality incentives (admissions standards, performance funding, innovation, and targeted grants for institutional and state…

Comprehensive facilities management is seen as becoming an important factor in higher education. Alternatives to new construction exist in the form of rehabilitation and renovation; deferred maintenance must be addressed and gradually reduced; better use of space must occur through diversion of surplus space, increased utilization, and…

Church-related colleges must find qualitatively different solutions to higher education's problems by resolving their own theological problems, cooperating within and across denominations, establishing distinctive graduate programs to develop leadership, exhibiting and promoting justice, seeking standards of accountability, applying resources…