This white paper encourages board members to take a step back and think about long-term strategies for ensuring that financial aid policies are consistent with institutional mission at the same time that they serve fiscal and enrollment goals. While board members can determine financial aid and enrollment policies only at the broadest level, it is…

This is the 13th paper in the Association of Governing Boards (AGB's) series summarizing federal and state public policy issues affecting higher education. Governing boards, institutional and university-system leaders, and senior staffs will find it useful for board discussions and retreats and in formulating institutional responses to these…

This report is first in a series of informational briefings developed as part of "The Guardians Initiative: Reclaiming the Public Trust," an effort to educate and engage trustees as advocates on key issues in higher education. While the tone of public criticism of higher education has sharpened, public understanding about the sector's…

The headlines report that college tuition is rising rapidly and students are struggling to pay for college. Financial-aid issues have also been in the news lately, with questions about student debt particularly prominent. Non-tuition revenues are weak because of declining state appropriations, depleted endowments, and anemic annual giving. At the…

Created in a time of segregation and discrimination to educate students of color, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have played a pivotal role in transforming the landscape of higher education in the United States. Today, in an era of rapid transformation, HBCUs face historic challenges as well as new obstacles. Questions about…

Since 1994, AGB has periodically issued papers on policy issues facing higher education. The 2013-2014 edition reflects a higher education landscape that is undergoing rapid and significant change. Such change is compounded by current and longer-term implications of the seemingly never-ending policy debates over traditional financial issues and…

Concerns that students and parents have about college tuition are addressed. The first section, "Why Tuition Is Up," lists six reasons for high college costs and explains why these trends are not likely to change within the next few years. The next section, "What Colleges and Universities Are Doing about Rising Tuition,"…

The questions "How much does it cost this institution to provide an education?" and "How much should students pay for that education?" are difficult to answer. In virtually all private institutions, and most public ones, today's students actually are paying a variety of prices, depending on the aid they receive and the financing methods they…

For all of the attention rising college costs continue to receive, it is striking how poorly informed many decision makers are when it comes to setting tuition and fees. And it's equally astounding that so many institutions are learning the consequences of pricing decisions undertaken solely by trial and error when a wrong judgment can affect…

This paper contains three articles which present the opinions of the authors on public college tuition and state finance. The problem addressed is the large increase in tuition charged by public sector, four-year colleges coupled with the effects of fiscal constraints facing the states. After an introduction by Richard J. Novak, the papers are:…

College and university trustees and administrators are employing various strategies to deal with financial challenges. These fall generally into five categories: (1) attracting additional revenues to help close the gap between resources and expenses; (2) reassessing tuition and financial aid policies to alter the size or mix of the student body;…

This paper is the fifth in a series of yearly efforts to identify the top 10 public policy issues facing higher education. Each of the issues is presented, first as a brief summary and then discussed in some depth; each also includes a list of information sources. The issues identified are: (1) teacher preparation and the K-12 relationship (the…

This paper reviews the need for governing boards of colleges and universities to respond to rising educational costs, pressures to improve student learning, and rapid technological advances. The first part of the paper describes the current forces for change and the need to reorganize administrative work. The example of Antioch University's…

This study examined trends in tuition and fees at private institutions of higher education, compared the fees with those at public institutions, and evaluated effects on need-based student financial aid. Data were collected from 150 private colleges and universities, from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Series, from the Entering…

Higher education governance structures are ineffective and new structures of "prospective governance" are needed for future success. Trends affecting higher education include financial scarcity, lack of government funding juxtaposed with the growing public demand for better services, and the competitive pressures of commercialization and…