With recent research from the Institute for Higher Education Policy showing that college is unaffordable for as many as 70% of working- and middle-class students, concerns about college costs are mounting. The cost of operating an institution of higher education, with very few exceptions, is reflected in the price of attendance that students,…

Data for the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources "CUPA-HR's" "Administrators in Higher Education Salary Survey" were collected November 1, 2016-February 5, 2017. The survey was conducted entirely online through Surveys Online, CUPA-HR's data collection and reporting system. For this year's…

An approach to institutional budgeting designed to alleviate accumulated deficits is described. The proposal introduces flexibility into the salary component, alleviating cash flow difficulties in the short to medium term and encouraging more proactive budgeting, by allowing employees to contract for reduced annual salary in exchange for reduced…

In the late 1990s, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation made grants to study people's attitudes toward retirement and to determine what factors influenced their decisions to retire. Although faculty were not talking to college administrators or human-resources departments about health care, the researchers found to their surprise that when they…

This publication presents the results of a survey of over 200 midwestern colleges and universities on their property insurance programs and establishes benchmarks to help these institutions evaluate their insurance programs. Findings included the following: (1) 51 percent of respondents currently purchase their property insurance as part of a…

In college and university administration, overhead costs are often charged to programs indiscriminately, whereas the support activities that underlie those costs remain unanalyzed. It is time for institutions to decrease ineffective use of resources. Activity-based management attributes costs more accurately and can improve efficiency. (MSE)

Stanford University (California) and the United States Navy have settled a dispute over 12 years of charges for research overhead, and the Navy has issued a rule requiring universities to negotiate multiyear overhead rates when appropriate data are available. Stanford agreed to pay back a total of $3.4-million. (MSE)

Many university athletics departments are running significant deficits, making critical full reporting on all expenses, by sport. Anything less than full disclosure by sport of all related expenses misleads institutional leaders, students, alumni, and legislators into believing that football and men's basketball teams can bankroll…

A discussion of federal cost accounting standards (CAS) chronicles briefly the history of CAS, notes other pertinent regulations applicable to higher education, summarizes the initial standards drafted for colleges and universities, and examines disclosure statement requirements and implications of noncompliance. (MSE)

Institutions are turning to responsibility-centered budgeting to instill campuswide fiscal responsibility. The approach places budget authority within individual academic units and allows decision makers to see their program's share of overhead expenses. The University of Indiana and Purdue University at Indianapolis have undertaken a joint…

American research universities addressed issues of shared funding and overhead for research long ago. British universities are now establishing their own rules. The Commission of European Universities has worked on a model contract that represents progress, but major issues of partnership and patronage arising from differential institutional…

Total cost management, an innovation useful in higher education, is best implemented in the institution's support services. Total cost management is the practice of analyzing and improving an institution's financial and qualitative performance when producing a particular product or service, paying attention to the complete work process and all…

College and university fund raising must be need-driven rather than donor-driven, capable of providing operating budget relief, and integrated with the institution's vision. Priority needs must be developed into a concise list of gift opportunities that, when funded, will clearly advance the institutional plan. Need-driven investments, not…

A framework for analyzing and classifying cost factors in higher education is presented. Costs are located in three sources (individual colleges and universities, the higher education community, and the socioeconomic and scientific-technological environment), and within each source, are a result of either cultural or material conditions. (MSE)

An effective energy conservation program, it is suggested, will require institutional changes and capital costs. The energy problem is seen as not simply a technical problem but a management one requiring the attention of the entire campus community. Some energy saving tips are provided, including quick fix items and investments. (MLW)