Higher education institutions are facing a challenging operating environment as enrollment declines pressure revenue, inflation pressures budgets, endowment earnings remain volatile, and concerns that fewer Americans see the value of post-secondary education threaten institutions' financial viability. Policymakers and Boards rely on financial…

This article delves into the formidable obstacles first-generation students (FGS) encounter within the South African private higher education sector which locates the study on which it is based in the literature around the overall experience of first-generation students. Extensive research has underscored the various challenges faced by FGS,…

In the past few decades, the roles and missions of universities have evolved from traditional missions of teaching, research, and publication to engaging directly in solving day-to-day societal problems and contributing to economic development. The increasing demands of the knowledge-based economy and globalization have played a significant role…

Indirect cost rates, also known as facilities and administrative (F&A) rates, are a critical yet often overlooked element of federally funded research. These rates help higher education institutions recover the real and growing costs of supporting research infrastructure expenses--including lab maintenance, compliance oversight, and grant…

Objective: To investigate what factors are associated with food insecurity (FI) among freshman students and identify potential solutions. Participants: 73 freshman students. Methods: Cross-sectional, Internet survey-based study. Fisher's Exact tests examined factors associated with food security (FS); Cohen's Kappa assessed the agreement between…

Recent reporting and research have claimed that some regional public universities are vulnerable, fragile, and endangered. However, much of what we know about the financial conditions of RPUs is limited to cases of financial crisis that capture national attention yet fail to fully represent the sector. The purpose of this chapter is to more deeply…

The number of colleges and universities facing financial difficulty is rising rapidly, and the pressures upon these institutions will be exacerbated by the arrival of the "demographic cliff " (18 years out from the fall in birth rates during the 2008/09 economic downturn) in 2026/27. The Forbes annual financial ranking of academic…

This paper examines how mounting pressures are reshaping academic freedom (AF) and the professoriate in contemporary higher education, with particular focus on the Canadian university context. Through qualitative interviews conducted between 2009-2011 with tenured faculty from two Southern Ontario universities, the study investigates how fiscal…

Objective This study reports on food insecurity (FI) amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants and methods College students in four regions of the US completed the two-item validated Hunger Vital Sign™ screening tool on Qualtrics. Results FI increased significantly after March 2020 among US students (worry about food running out: 25% to 35%; food…

Tuition discounting has been a long-standing practice among colleges and universities. Its roots can be traced to the beginnings of the 1970s, and its use has continued to increase and expand in the decades following. However, despite its widespread use, the research is inconclusive whether tuition discounting has been an effective strategy to…

South African universities are facing significant financial challenges that threaten their sustainability. Factors such as reduced government funding, unpredictable tuition collection, and the need to generate additional revenue have become major concerns for universities. This study investigates the perceptions of academic and non-academic staff…

Objective: To explore stressors among young university students. Participants: Twenty-nine 18- to 25-year-old university students. Method: Four focus group discussions (n = 29) were conducted to explore mental health and stressors among domestic and international university students. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis to identify emerging…

Objective: Determine relationships between college students' student loan presence and self-rated physical and mental health, major medical problems, mental health conditions, physical, dental, and mental health care visits and delays, and medication use and reductions. Participants: A total of 3,248 undergraduates at two regional public U.S.…

This article studies a sample of displaced workers during the deep 1990s recession in Sweden and estimates the effect of secondary-level adult education on tertiary-level educational attainment. Plant closures and mass layoffs are used to identify job separations unrelated to individual productivity. Results indicate a large positive effect of…

The vagaries of market forces are presenting a financially challenging environment for the higher education sector in England. Intense competition is leaving those overly dependent on tuition fee income in an exposed position. Despite a strong narrative for the need to diversify funding in the available higher education literature, empirical…