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…

A discussion is presented of the process of resource allocation and the use of performance indicators in public sector higher education in Britain. First, background is presented on the method of providing resources to institutions of advanced further education (AFE) and non-advanced further education (NAFE) on the basis of pooled recurrent…

A University of Kansas study provides an empirical base for examining the effects of resource decline. The study sought to answer the question: What are the structural aspects of the university that increase or decrease its ability to adapt when resources decline? (MLW)

The 1990s will not be easy for public college faculty, administrators, and governing boards, who will be expected to do more with less money and fewer resources, but bear criticism for cutting back. Simultaneously, society will make greater demands for preparation of the next generation of professionals. The educational establishment must…

Financial problems that are being experienced by colleges and universities in Manitoba, Canada, likely results of these problems, and actions that might be taken are discussed by the president of University of Winnipeg. Provincial aid to universities in Manitoba has been inadequate. One major consequence resulting from financial problems is…

The methodological problems involved in research on the impact of financial restraint and factors that limit the effectiveness of university briefs that attempt to determine financial needs are examined. The role of "academic quality" in the debate on higher education funding is emphasized. (Author/MLW)

In recent years, Trenton State College (New Jersey) has focused its efforts on providing quality undergraduate programs to reverse an outmigration of college students from the state. When it faced severe financial difficulties, the students actively supported a fee increase designed to help the institution maintain quality education. (Author/MSE)

Meetings were held in Senegal in 1985, in Cote d'Ivoire in 1986, and in Zimbabwe in 1987, concerning the current state of higher education finance in Africa, the structure of unit costs, and the role of development assistance agencies and other sources of financial support. Reports are presented concerning the macroeconomic perspective, internal…

Pennsylvania State University's early response to declining resources and its current planning and budget process are described. Attention is also directed to the fiscal outcomes of the process over the past 5 years and several of the strategies devised to promote qualitative concerns and respond to variable growth-decline situations. From 1971 to…

In Canada, provincial support of school systems has shifted from funding that addresses concerns of access to funding that addresses outcomes determined by the needs of influential societal groups. Despite this apparent priority shift, economic difficulties have resulted in funding mechanisms that are highly accountable in terms of spending but…

This joint statement by the presidents of 17 Virginia State colleges and universities and the Director of the State Council on Higher Education examines the condition of Virginia's system of higher education in light of reductions in revenue, and urges implementation of proposals made by the State Council of Higher Education to meet the challenges…

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…

Some of the responses of colleges and universities to declining enrollments and diminishing resources are reviewed. Institutions have tried to reduce the size of their operations, reallocate resources internally, and retrench a number of faculty and programs. Several approaches to reductions, reallocations, and retrenchments in specific cases,…

The way that inflation has created pressure points on quantity of resouces and quality of outcomes in postsecondary education is examined, along with the situation of the chemistry department of the University of Montreal. Data from the chemistry department for 1971-80 are used to assess the impact of inflation on various objects of expenditures…

How institutional research can improve the quality of institutional performance of colleges and universities in the face of funding constraints is discussed. An example of the use of instructional research to assist in documenting institutional quality in Australia is noted. Institutional research uses data collection, analysis, and interpretation…