Student-loan debt is not just a problem for young, recent college graduates searching for their first jobs. Growing numbers of adults nearing the ends of their careers are accumulating such big debt, too, and they don't have a lifetime to pay it back. In fact, student-loan debt is growing fastest among adults ages 60 and older, with more than two…

Like many Americans caught up in the economic downturn, college students are worried about money. Now research indicates that financial worries may affect their academic performance. The author presents the results of this year's National Survey of Student Engagement. The survey reveals that more than a third of seniors and more than a quarter of…

Many colleges have put off repairs and renovation since the recession. Now crumbling buildings, limited budgets, and mounting debt present an increasingly intractable problem. Sightlines, a consulting company that tracks and analyzes facilities issues at more than 300 colleges, shared some of its latest findings with "The Chronicle". The data…

Salaries for midlevel administrators rose by a median of 2 percent this year over last year, matching the median pay increase for senior administrators and coming in slightly higher than the 1.9-percent median increase for faculty members, says an annual report released by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.…

It's no secret that states and the federal government have found themselves in a financial pinch when it comes to higher education. After years of recession and sluggish recovery, states have slashed per-pupil public spending on higher education by 14.6 percent since 2008. At the federal level, though money for Pell Grants has more than doubled…

Economists in both India and China see signs of slackening economic activity, from currency fluctuations in India to a falloff in imports, electricity consumption, and real-estate sales in China. A weakening of the economies in the two countries could be worrisome news for American colleges, for which an uptick in full-paying foreign students has…

When Brad R. Simpson visited the University of Connecticut for a job interview in February, he was struck by a vibe that he finds increasingly rare on college campuses. People, he says, were optimistic. At a time when he encounters many demoralized professors, as campuses across the nation slash budgets and freeze hiring, the University of…

When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, it looked at first as if many European universities were going to escape the worst. Higher education has long been considered a public right and a taxpayer-financed obligation, and there was optimism that universities, which government leaders hail as drivers of economic growth, would emerge relatively…

A growing proportion of the nation's professors are at the same point in their career: still working, but with the end of their careers in sight. Their tendency to remain on the job as long as their work is enjoyable--or, during economic downturns, long enough to make sure they have enough money to live on in retirement--has led the professoriate…

Twenty million dollars to Vanderbilt University for financial aid. Seventeen million dollars to Washington and Lee University for faculty programs. Ten million dollars to the State University of New York at Stony Brook for science research. This article reports that donations of such magnitude, all announced in December, may seem unlikely in the…

As Europe has lurched from one economic crisis to another in recent months, one thing has become clear: Any long-term solution will depend on the willingness of Germany, Europe's largest economy, to shoulder much of the financial burden the debt crisis has created. German taxpayers, known for their thrift, have balked at underwriting what many see…

Low sales, high numbers of books returned, operating subsidies threatened by state and university budget cuts: as the economy slumps, those are just some of the problems that confront academic publishers. Overall sales for July 1 through December 31 were down nearly 10 percent compared with the same period in 2007, according to a recent survey by…

Scholarly groups have long served as hubs of academic life and the embodiments of their disciplines, but they face uncertain and divergent futures. Some disciplinary associations are struggling to remain relevant and financially viable as demographic and technological changes threaten their traditional sources of revenue. The core of their…

For two weeks every June, the College World Series showcases one of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA's) most popular sports. More than 300,000 fans flock to picturesque Rosenblatt Stadium, in Omaha, with millions more tuning in on ESPN. Ticket sales, which in recent years topped $9-million, make baseball the NCAA's…

For the first time in decades, the economic headlines are hitting Hanover residents where they live. In February, Dartmouth College, a member of the Ivy League and the region's second-largest employer, announced it was laying off 60 workers, all in nonfaculty positions, and eliminating another 90 jobs through early retirements and attrition, part…