At the University of Rhode Island (URI), the URI Open Access Fund Committee met in early 2024 to advise the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs on the continuation of the URI Open Access Fund. The URI Open Access Fund was created in 2013 to reimburse URI authors for Article Processing Charges when they published in qualifying…

Higher education is in crisis. Revenues from all sources are expected to decrease at both public and private universities. The current crisis will raise existential questions for small and mid-tier institutions. Only universities with massive endowments and highly competitive admissions will escape the effects of the coming enrollment cliff.…

The Arizona Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AzAMI) is still a year away from the end of the U.S. Department of Labor grant that expanded the program, but already, AzAMI Executive Director Leah Palmer at Mesa Community College (MCC) in Mesa, Arizona, is fielding calls from companies that have hired her students through the institute. As state…

Three big-city districts--Chicago, Milwaukee, and New York--have terminated federal grants aimed at promoting performance-based compensation plans and professional development for teachers and principals. Overall, the 2010 Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grants to the three districts would have provided an $88 million payout over five years--nearly 7…

This article reports on a nationally-watched case by educators and families which is scheduled to be heard by the Florida Supreme Court. The court is to decide whether Opportunity Scholarships, available to students enrolled in Florida's persistently lowest-rated public schools, run afoul of a prohibition on using public money in religious…

Describes how a federal program let a California for-profit institution, the Masters Institute, expand its distance education offerings, but then led to its closure because of findings of financial aid fraud. (EV)

Escalating costs are causing universities to postpone faculty hiring, consolidating offices into one, and entire academic departments are being phased out. The extent of the financial problems facing major research institutions is indicated in an internal survey prepared by the Association of American Universities. (MLW)

In Alberta, reductions in educational funding and a "back to basics" mentality have resulted in reduced support for outdoor and environmental education. Elementary/secondary programs have responded by taking the programs directly to the schools to avoid transportation costs, and by cutting the more adventurous programs. Postsecondary…

Seneca College is the designated community college for the City of North York, in the Greater Toronto Area, and is the most culturally diverse college in Ontario, with over 70 languages spoken by students. It also offers the largest business and among the largest applied science programs in Canada. In November 1995, in response to severe…

The processes used by the University of Washington to meet severe budget reductions mandated by the state are described. A planning philosophy of smaller size and higher quality was adopted, and program elimination occurred consensually, with faculty and student participation. (Author/MLW)

Summarizes the most important economic factors that have had an impact upon kindergartens in Kazakhstan in recent years. Provides city-specific data detailing the effects of the collapse of communism and the rise of market-oriented economic reform on kindergarten closures. Discusses policy responses to declining enrollments and school closures.…

Planning by the University of Wisconsin system for rational management of projected enrollment and fiscal decline is considered. It is suggested that a change in a college or university's mission may be an instrument for enabling a particular institution to meet unusual problems of declining resources. The elimination and consolidation of courses…

Effective ways to handle program discontinuance were studied based on experiences at 10 campuses. Two variables that were considered to be institutional approaches to financial difficulties are the degree of financial difficulty and the degree of control exercised by the institutional leaders. The study sample was drawn primarily from large public…

At the request of the state legislature, the California State Postsecondary Education Commission presents comments on "The Consortium," a 14-year-old external degree program which the California State University decided to disband. Commission comments on the university report include concerns over the funding mechanisms currently…

The process of economic retrenchment and institutional decline that occurred within the City University of New York (CUNY) in 1975-1976, a time of New York City fiscal crisis, is analyzed. Attention is directed to the public policy conflict between the policies of free tuition and direct student aid; the relative roles of state, city, and federal…