Public universities are not for-profit businesses with an easy-to-understand bottom line: their financial reports are not designed to convey information to the public fully or to reflect all the costs of teaching and research. Financial reports do track every dollar in accordance with the accounting rules required by auditors, but they do not…

Patterns in responses of colleges to fiscal stress were assessed. Attention was directed to the responses over a 10-year period, of 23 four-year colleges and universities that were observed in "A Report on the Financial Conditions Project" (1981) by the American Council on Education (ACE) and the National Association of College and University…

Problems relating to program discontinuance and the role of institutional research are discussed, drawing on a study supported by the Exxon Foundation of 10 predominantly large public universities that have either reviewed and closed programs or have gone through recent financial difficulties. Careful analysis is necessary to know that savings are…

Discusses the disadvantages of across-the-board budget cuts, arguing instead for the selective elimination of programs to counter economic deficiencies. Points to factors to consider in determining which programs are economically and academically weak. (AYC)

This annual address by the Chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) focuses on the financial crisis affecting the district and on the district's innovative activities and programs. Opening remarks review the recent actions of the governor and legislature which resulted in the maintenance of the community colleges'…

Universite de Montreal has implemented a program review formula that is a standardized approach to relating program offerings, faculty resources, and institutional budgetary reduction requirements. The methodology was based on normalization of the number of credits that a unit is authorized to offer. For a typical degree program structure, the…

Analytical techniques used in responding to a series of four substantial budget reductions imposed at Oregon State University are described. Over a 2-year period, each of the budget reductions demanded increasingly severe institutional action to meet the specified monetary targets. Different analytical techniques were required to meet the changing…

Retrenchment and reallocation processes at five public colleges and universities were studied: the University of Washington; University of Idaho; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Michigan State University; and Seattle Community College District. After an overview of institutional approaches to retrenchment and reallocation, the five individual…

Materials from Southwestern College, the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges, and the California Research Bureau (CRB) are presented to help community college practitioners calculate curricular costs. First, a set of charts and forms from Southwestern College include the college's definition of curriculum efficiency,…

This review of tax limitation legislation and its impact on the community college, begins by examining the provisions of this type of legislation, its historical precedents, the extent to which tax limitation legislation was passed in the 1970's, and its implications for local control of community college services. Next, it is noted that…

The effects of a budgetary formula change on 39 public colleges and universities in Virginia were assessed. As a state reaction to declining resources, the sample of 15 senior-level colleges and 24 community colleges had undergone a policy change for the 1978-1980 budget to make an adjustment upward in the student-faculty ratio. Attention was…

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…

Proceedings of the 1982 University of Arizona conference cover two- and four-year college conference sessions, as well as state and institutional perspectives. Topics include college planning in Mexico, consequences of budget reduction strategies, quality and financial structures, public and private competition, state-level formulas, student aid…

Statewide planning for higher education and the approaches that states take to budgeting and accountability are reviewed in this monograph. Statewide planning involves identifying problems and collecting relevant data, analyzing interrelationships among variables, and choosing the most desirable alternatives to reach objectives. State-level higher…

Theory and research on the effectiveness of college operations are covered in 12 chapters. Current research on each topic is reviewed, with attention to conceptual and methodological issues, and an agenda for future research is offered. Chapter titles and authors are as follows: "Transformational Leadership in Colleges and Universities" (Kim S.…