Budgets are moral documents, reflecting our priorities as a nation by deciding where to allocate resources. Congress is targeting cuts and policy changes that limit access to health care, nutrition programs, and basic financial stability for millions of children, including Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the…

Because of the pandemic, many states will likely need to determine how they can best address shrinking revenues with the least harm to students, even as the needs of students have increased and the crisis has exposed gaping disparities. ExcelinEd, in partnership with a diverse group of organizations--the Aspen Institute, the District Management…

State support for public higher education has been a primary concern for decades. Online education has been identified previously as an alternative revenue source that can offer financial relief to colleges and universities. This study uses IPEDS data and a fixed effects regression approach to examine whether public universities increase their…

Although there has been significant progress in the long term, achievement gaps among the nation's students persist.Many factors have contributed to the disparities in outcomes, and societal changes can explain progress, or lack thereof, over the past few decades.This is well documented in the 2010 Educational Testing Service (ETS) report…

This multi-site case study is really the story of three same-state community colleges (Bridge and Buffer Community College, Grants and Reserves Community College, and Crystal Ball Community College) two years after they suffered a potentially catastrophic 50% reduction in state allocations. This study examined their responses to those reductions…

This report examines college and university finances during one of the most turbulent economic periods in decades. The financial ramifications of the 2008 recession were vast, affecting students' ability to pay for college, lawmakers' prioritization of public resources, and the budgetary environment facing higher education leaders. The challenges…

How does one maintain high goals for instruction with dwindling funds? On a district level, the ability to do more with less is just not possible. It is the capability to reposition available resources that achieves critical goals. One way to visualize this concept is to think of a stretched elastic band. When that band is extended, it changes its…

States and school districts are facing unprecedented financial pressure due to the continued poor performance of the United States's economy. Dramatic shortfalls in funding due to reduced tax collections were held off for 2 years thanks to federal stimulus funds, but with these revenues already consumed and little likelihood of more in the near…

Access to English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses is crucial for society, social cohesion and the economy. In 2006 it was estimated that 600,000 people in London alone had an ESOL need. In some parts of the country, as many as 50 per cent of adults have Entry-level ESOL needs. ESOL is no longer an issue only for urban areas. People…

This article reports on a 2009 budget survey conducted by "Library Journal" in which a random sample of U.S. public libraries were surveyed via mail or fax in October 2008. Those that answered the survey projected a modest increase in budgets for 2009, just 2%, with less than a 1% increase in funds for materials, a predictable area for cuts. That…

This article considers the role of higher education in state budgets. It empirically models and tests the balance wheel hypothesis in a robust framework. The balance wheel model posits that in good economic times, higher education is an attractive area for states to fund and tends to be funded at a higher rate than other state budget categories.…

In the current economy, available resources for staffing of counselor positions are unlikely to expand in real dollars. Educators and their clients who feel that counseling services should be expanded need to express their opinions in the public forum where allocations are decided. (Author/WD)

Both congress and the President are under heavy pressure to cut the Federal budget for science and research. Between the reductions in the present year and the next, science programs will lose $1.4 billion for R & D and $210 million in basic research if the proposed budget is approved. (Author/RE)

College health services are examined regarding (1) their relation to financial constraints on higher education in general; (2) the need to adjust to these restraints; and (3) the need to develop broader missions for the health service as an integral part of the institution. (MJB)

A university strategic planning approach that allocates resources simultaneously from the top down (administratively) and from the bottom up (based on expressed needs of the schools, colleges, and support units), making adjustments late in the process, is described. (MSE)