Budgeting is inherently political. Too often, short-term goals overrun long-term institutional interest. By presenting the many layers of budgeting models with a clear, comparative framework, author Larry Goldstein, demonstrates the organic link between planning and budgeting, making it crystal clear that budgets and plans represent two sides of…

Budgeting is inherently political. Too often, short-term goals overrun long-term institutional interest. By presenting the many layers of budgeting models with a clear, comparative framework, author Larry Goldstein, demonstrates the organic link between planning and budgeting, making it crystal clear that budgets and plans represent two sides of…

In recent years academic capitalism and a distancing from Mertonian scientific norms have shifted the traditional reward of academic science from peer recognition to the award of grants. With the shrinking of the NIH budget in real terms since 2003, there are increasing numbers of researchers whose careers are at risk from lack of funding. This…

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)

The intended audience for this primer includes new academic administrators and faculty members who seek involvement in campus governance and need a greater understanding of administrative processes, particularly those related to budgets and budgeting. After reading this publication, readers will have a better understanding of the budget process at…

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)

This book discusses the early indicators of a college or university's need for a turnaround. It outlines financial trends and other indicators of distress, as well as benchmarks for the various stages of an effective turnaround strategy. The book will help trustees, presidents, and faculty members diagnose whether they are in denial about the true…

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…