Higher Education Finance

Thoughts on the History of University Systems in the U.S., by Robert Berdahl

Robert Berdahl
2014

Beginning in earnest in the 1950s, most state governments began a process of creating public university systems with a governing board and intended to coordinate and manage usually a range of institutional types and including a major public flagship university. By the late 1980s, enthusiasm for more centralized structures and state-wide “superboards” began to wane, in part because of the opposition of flagship campuses fearful of the “leveling” result they had seen in Wisconsin. The two decades after 1990 were marked both by austerity and limited growth and...

WHAT FUTURE FOR UK HIGHER EDUCATION?

Roger Brown
2010

Historically, the UK system has been one of the most successful in combining excellence with access. However the favorable conditions that British universities and colleges have enjoyed in recent years, associated in large part with the introduction of higher tuition fees in 2006, are coming to an end. British universities and colleges face a future of static or even falling local demand, increasing local and international competition, severe public and private expenditure constraints, increased regulation, and greater difficulties in aligning costs with income. In the first instance...

Privatization and Access: The Chilean Higher Education Experiment and its Discontents, by Cristina González and Liliana Pedraja

Cristina González
Liliana Pedraja
2015

President Barack Obama recently announced a proposal to eliminate tuition charges at community colleges so that everyone can easily complete the first two years of a university education. At the same time, the administration is creating new regulations to curb the worst abuses of for-profit universities. This suggests that the country has reached a turning point regarding access to higher education. There is a practical limit to privatization, and the countries that have privatized their higher education systems most aggressively, such is the case of the United States, are now...

A New Approach to Analyzing University Prestige and Internal Resource Allocation: Geometric Interpretations and Implications, by Yasumi Abe and Satoshi P. Watanabe

Yasumi Abe
Satoshi P. Watanabe
2012

The content of this paper is based solely on the original study reported in Abe and Watanabe (2012a) in which the authors develop a structured and innovative theory of optimal resource allocation and prestige maximization for an institution of higher education. Although the study provides a sound diagnostic framework and unambiguous results, the paper requires relatively advanced knowledge of mathematics and microeconomic theory, which presents an unattractive feature for students and researchers in academic disciplines that do not necessarily incorporate such analytical...

Can the Research Model Move Beyond its Dominant Patron? The Future of Support for Fundamental Research in US Universities, by Gwilym Croucher

Gwilym Croucher
2018

The United States has been the leader in fundamental research for the last seven decades. Fundamental research is overwhelming undertaken in or in conjunction with research-intensive universities, and since the 1950s they have depended on US Federal funding to make this possible. This support has been consistently championed by Congress, is popular across the political spectrum and enjoys long public backing, in no small part because there remains a widespread trust in the societal benefits it provides. Yet the US now faces a dilemma over the future of this national achievement and the...

Strategic Budgeting at Colleges and Universities by James A. Hyatt CSHE 3.20 (May 2020)

James A. Hyatt
2020

In recent years a number of colleges and universities have explored alternative strategies for developing operating budgets. In part this exploration was driven by the desire for transparency among various constituent groups and the need to tie budgeting to campus strategic planning. With the advent of declining federal and state support, along with changing student demand, the need for a more strategic approach to budgeting has gained momentum. This paper highlights the various budgetary approaches currently in use and provides examples of their application in a variety of university...

A GLOBAL TALENT MAGNET: How a San Francisco/Bay Area Higher Education Hub Could Advance California's Comparative Advantage In Attracting International Talent and Further Build US Economic Competitiveness

John Aubrey Douglass
Richard Edelstein
Cécile Hoareau
2011

During the 2009-10 academic year international students generated more than $18.8 billion in net income into the US economy. California alone had nearly 100,000 international students with an economic impact of nearly $3.0 billion. In this paper, we outline a strategy for the San Francisco/Bay Area to double the number of international students enrolled in local colleges and universities in ten years or less, generating a total direct economic impact of an additional $1 billion a year into the regional economy. The US retains a huge market advantage for attracting foreign students....

HIGHER EDUCATION BUDGETS AND THE GLOBAL RECESSION: Tracking Varied National Responses and Their Consequences

John Aubrey Douglass
2010

In the midst of the global recession, how have national governments viewed the role of higher education in their evolving strategies for economic recovery? Demand for higher education generally goes up during economic downturns. Which nations
have proactively protected funding for their universities and colleges to help maintain access, to help retrain workers, and to mitigate unemployment rates? And which nations have simply made large funding cuts for higher education in light of the severe downturn in tax revenues? This essay provides a moment-in-time review of the...

Universities and the Entrepreneurial State: Politics and Policy and a New Wave of State-Based Economic Initiatives

John Aubrey Douglass
2006

The convergence of US federal science and economic policy that began in earnest in the Reagan administration formed the first stage in an emerging post-Cold War drive toward technological innovation. A frenzy of new state-based initiatives now forms the Second Stage, further promoting universities as decisive tools for economic competitiveness. State governments have largely become the political environment in which new policy ideas are emerging, influenced by a sense of increased competition among states and other international economies for economic growth. The paper outlines the...

Investment Patterns In California Higher Education And Policy Options For A Possible Future

John Aubrey Douglass
2002

What has been the level of public investment in this higher education system, and how has it performed over the past century? What are the challenges that California higher education faces in the future and what level of investment is necessary? This paper attempts to provide an historical context to these questions to assist Californians as they once again consider how to expand educational opportunity. California now faces a dramatic new period of potential enrollment and program growth that will have a significant impact on socio-economic mobility, and on the state's economic...