Hunger on campus is part of a lingering national problem that grew after the financial crisis that began in late 2007. In an unforgiving economy, many students across the country struggle not only to pay tuition but also to buy food. Colleges and nonprofit groups have noticed, and more are reacting. Food pantries are cropping up on two-year and…

Low sales, high numbers of books returned, operating subsidies threatened by state and university budget cuts: as the economy slumps, those are just some of the problems that confront academic publishers. Overall sales for July 1 through December 31 were down nearly 10 percent compared with the same period in 2007, according to a recent survey by…

Most colleges have steered through the first jolts of the recession without resorting to layoffs, cutting employee benefits, or imposing across-the-board freezes on hiring. But the economic pain is afflicting campuses in many other ways, according to the findings from a new survey of chief business officers conducted last month by "The Chronicle"…

Why should society support the humanities when so many people are suffering from the effects of the economic crisis? What claim do the humanities, or scholarship generally, have on increasingly limited resources? Shouldn't such pursuits be considered luxuries at a time when people should be focusing on essentials? The alleviation of human…

Economists may be biased in ways that are not apparent to many. A widely espoused theory in economics is that regulators' decisions often become biased in favor of the industries they regulate; to use economic jargon, they become "captured." Economic incentives encourage even the best-intentioned regulators to cater to the interests of the…

The author reports that tough economic times are leading administrators to propose changes that short-circuit faculty governance, long a prized principle that gives professors wide-ranging authority over educational matters. The results, faculty members say, are hastily conceived plans that reorganize academic programs, decrease professors' roles…

Recent events on Wall Street raise a complicated question: Will the financial crisis help or hurt colleges' sustainability efforts? Both are possible. In this article, the author discusses how the Wall Street meltdown may hurt colleges' green initiatives. However, advocates of sustainability see an opportunity to change the conversation. A…

Professors of economics, business, and related fields were asked to answer the following question: Does the financial crisis affect how economic theory should be thought? This article presents some excerpts from their answers.

During a period of financial difficulty, presidents and chief financial officers can be tempted to restrict the flow of information and to discuss financial exigencies only with senior staff members, so that board members and people throughout the campus do not become worried. However, it is better to get the facts out rather than to allow…

These are especially difficult times for researchers who depend on government money. Their "anxiety is palpable," Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, wrote last 2006. Moreover, Leo Furcht, president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, warned Congress that "we are, quite simply, losing our…

Investors were hardly the only ones shaken by the tumult in the financial markets this month. Business schools suddenly found themselves struggling to make sense of events on Wall Street, with some critics blaming an ethically challenged curriculum for the troubles. Current and prospective students, meanwhile, worried about job prospects. On…

Times are very tough. The great majority of colleges are looking at 2009 and 2010 and beyond, in anticipation of the deepest budget cuts in more than a generation. But as bad as the financial situation may be, colleges can survive if they take swift and strong emergency action. It is time for some straight talk, starting with the realization that…

This article reports that as students flock to public two-year and four-year colleges amid an ailing economy, they find the colleges struggling with financial problems of their own. Midyear budget cuts are forcing many institutions to lay off faculty members, cut course sections, and freeze enrollment. Rising unemployment, slumping values of…

The closure of Barat College's operations in 2004 is similar to the accounts of other small, tuition-driven institutions such as Ambassador University, Bradford College, Marymount College, and Trinity College of Vermont. All institutions were small and in tight financial positions, and all ended up closing their doors. They also shared another…

Certain higher-education institutions are at risk in 2007 and beyond, according to Moody's Investors Service, which gauges colleges' financial health. They include small private colleges with limited geographic draw, colleges with ambitious spending plans to improve their national reputations, and regional public universities that face heavy…