Student enrollment in Pennsylvania public schools continues to decline, but school costs continue to rise. In the next 5 years, the Northern Area of Allegheny County will lose the equivalent of one of the larger school districts. Substantial cuts in teaching and administrative positions have already taken effect. Over the last 25 years, Northern…

Developments in postsecondary education during 1970-75 are considered in relation to students, institutions, and faculty. The following issues pertaining to students are addressed: students who did not enroll, the enrollment rate, the economic origins of students, student incomes, the reliability of income distribution data, the occupational…

The role of state college trustees and their interaction with state government are considered. It is suggested that the trustee should be concerned about what is best for postsecondary education in the state generally as well as for the specific institution. The future trends indicate declining college enrollments, which require planning…

Data from a 2002 study indicate that small private colleges have been closing at an alarming rate. These institutions seldom possess the resources that might enable them to respond flexibly to changes in their environment, and rising operating costs and inadequate endowments leave them at a competitive disadvantage compared with public colleges…

The open admissions policy at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the effect of fiscal crisis in New York are considered. One of the important changes that occurred after the fiscal crisis in 1975 was that entry to CUNY's senior colleges became more difficult. Another change was the implementation in 1977 of a more stringent and precisely…

In response to legislative mandate, this report reviews the management initiatives taken by community colleges in Maryland over the last several years to contain and reduce costs; investigates the potential for the regionalization of Maryland's community colleges; and determines new initiatives that should be considered by individual colleges in…

The experiences of presidents of small colleges in their role as crisis manager are discussed. Attention is directed to: problems confronting the presidents of threatened colleges; presidential actions necessary for institutional renewal; the personal characteristics of the successful crisis manager/president; and how presidential behaviors…

The major problem to be faced in Canada in the next decade is resource allocation. Administrators must make conscious efforts to distinguish between changes in price levels that are the effect of inflationary pressures and increases in costs that are the result of changes in quality or quantity of inputs. A second area extremely important in…

In the fall of 1977, students enrolled in an elementary school administration and supervision class at Indiana State University attempted to separate the "threats" from the "thorns" in elementary school administration. "Thorns" were defined as everlasting or recurrent problems, and "threats" were defined as relatively new problems perceived as…

The course of enrollments, events, and decision-making leading up to the 1980 dismissal of five faculty at Goucher College is outlined in terms of: financial exigency, termination of tenured appointments, ruptures in due process and faculty participation, and absence of a decision for program discontinuance. (MSE)

A bibliography on decline and retrenchment in higher education is presented that includes publications from the fields of higher education, the organization sciences, and public administration. The objective is to make available the reference tools that have been useful in conducting the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems'…

A personal account of Richard Berendzen's life as president of The American University (AU) in Washington, D.C. during the 1983-1984 academic year is presented in diary form. The account describes his interactions with faculty, students, administrators, and people outside the university to further the goals of the institution. In the year prior to…

Perspectives on the context and results of the investigation conducted by the National Commission on Excellence in Education are presented. It is noted that the Commission's analysis sought to determine the extent to which colleges fail to set and maintain high standards, and the extent to which they fail to make their measures and benchmarks of…

Historical developments and current trends affecting American higher education are discussed, along with government and college reactions to problems. A review of the literature covers: retrenchment, the federal role in the past, the role of the states, the private sector, population declines, inflation and unemployment, a loss of confidence in…

Adjustments that state policy-makers and institutions of higher education will need to make as they face cutbacks in public support and declining enrollments are described, based in part on a research project on retrenchment in higher education conducted by the Southern Regional Education Board. Given the long-term contractual obligations of…