After decades of focusing on expansion and access, California's institutions of higher education are now being handed a more difficult charge: to dramatically increase the number of college graduates with diminishing state funding. There is a growing consensus that the United States needs to ratchet up its production of college graduates to turn…

The passage of the Jarvis-Gann initiative (Proposition 13) in California made it illegal for community colleges to tax local homeowners for the purpose of increasing revenue. The impact on the colleges of decreased local revenues was drastic, though less than had been predicted. In 1979, the districts received funding which was 85% of the level of…

The aim of this research was to examine the response of large public organizations to financial resource reduction not accompanied by decline in the demand for services. The focus was 94 New York City public high schools that received substantial budget cuts in 1975-76 and 1976-77. Effects on mix of services and class structures were studied. All…

A comprehensive investigation was conducted of the impact of the financial reductions that occurred during the 1979-81 and 1981-83 bienniums on the Washington state community college system. Data were obtained for fall quarters 1979 and 1982 to determine if there were significant differences between variables encompassing employee staffing levels,…

The decline of the American railroad is explored to gain a better understanding of the nature and consequences of decline, as well as to assess implications for higher education. The following issues are addressed: changes that occurred in the railroad's environment between the early twentieth century and the present; the kind of adaptation that…

Over the past 15 years, California has significantly increased fees for its residents attending the State's public colleges and universities. All three of California's public postsecondary education segments charge resident students a systemwide enrollment fee. In addition, the California State University and the University of California also…

A study of 334 colleges and universities found institutions with declining resources are as effective as institutions with abundant resources. However, institutions that develop certain attributes (centralization, crisis mentality, lowered innovation, resistance to change, decreasing morale, politicized interest groups, non-prioritized cutbacks,…

A study investigates the governance roles of trustees in four private colleges that were victims of fiscal pressures common to independent colleges and that did not survive. The primary concern is with the board's role prior to failure, the responsibility they bore for what happened, and the opportunities for service they may have overlooked.…

California charges students enrolled in academic graduate degree programs more to attend the State's public universities than it charges undergraduate students. The rationale for this differential stems from two principle factors. First, providing graduate courses is generally more expensive than the cost of providing undergraduate courses.…

In Spring 1991, the LRC (Learning Resources Center)/library at Parkland College (PC) was quantitatively assessed in terms of staff size, collection size, budget allocation, circulation, and space allocation. Adequacy indicators from fiscal year (FY) 1991 and FY90 were compared to those from FY88. In addition, PC's LRC/library was compared to…

Based on case studies of Mexican private and public universities, a study used economic development theory to describe institutional strategies for responding to financial stress. Concepts of institutional rules and myths in institutional environment and processes were used to explore the role of institutional environment on decision making.…

The development of policy to respond to reduction and financial exigency in higher education was studied, based on a survey of presidents of 19 public and 35 private colleges and universities. In addition to assessing policy development, the survey was directed to efforts to increase enrollments and revenue and to reduce expenditures and criteria…

This research report ordered by the California Senate analyzes problems and possible solutions to postsecondary education finance in that state. A first section explores the background to the issues and concludes that higher education should be a top priority of the state government now and in the future. A second section examines the problem of…

A longitudinal, comparative case study examines the impact of enrollment decline on and the response to it by 15 suburban school districts in 2 metropolitan areas. Data were collected during 1978-81 through interviews, observation of public meetings, documentary and statistical sources, and case histories developed for each district from 1964-81.…

This report documents the impact upon Ontario (Canada) universities of a continuous decline in university funding over the past two decades, coupled with major cutbacks in the past year, that have reduced provincial government grants, partially deregulated university tuition fees, and reorganized student aid initiatives. In text and 23 figures the…