The current discourse surrounding Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is powerful. Despite their rapid and widespread deployment, research has yet to confirm or refute some of the bold claims rationalizing the popularity and efficacy of these large-scale virtual learning environments. Also, MOOCs' reputed disruptive, game-changing potential…

The "madrasa" began to spread in Syria ("Bilad al-Sham") as a higher institution for religious education since the Zangid rule (521H./1127 to 569H./ 1173). During the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, main cities of Syria were characterized by many madrasas, especially the major cities that served the political rule like, Damascus,…

Students from low-income families are underrepresented in higher education, despite the fact that many of them are well qualified to enroll. When low-income students do enroll in college, they tend to be overrepresented in public community colleges and for-profit institutions, or if they attend four-year institutions, tend to attend regional state…

Background/Context: Endowments of institutions of higher education in the United States have attracted widespread attention in recent decades due to their meteoric rise in value and their precipitous decline during the recent recession. But there has been little research on the beginnings of the significant interest in and importance of…

Developing return-oriented green revolving funds (GRFs) is a rapidly growing trend at colleges and universities. A green revolving fund (GRF) is a special account designated for investment in on-campus projects that improve energy efficiency or decrease material use. GRFs invest in a variety of cost-saving initiatives, resulting in significant…

This is one in a series of data briefs developed by the Delta Cost Project at AIR using data from the "IPEDS Analytics: Delta Cost Project Database 1987-2010," which was released on August 14, 2012, by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. The intent of these briefs is to update key tables and figures from…

Charitable donations are an important revenue source for many institutions of higher education. We explore how donations respond to economic and financial market shocks, accounting for both supply and demand channels through which these shocks operate. In panel data with fixed effects to control for unobservable differences across universities, we…

This dissertation addresses the consequences of political influence on state higher education funding at the committee level. The State of South Carolina has a long history of using a formula to determine the appropriate amount of funding that is to be allocated to its colleges and universities. I use the funding level implied by the South…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the annual revenue received by United States public community college foundations from 2008-2009 in relation to selected variables associated in the literature with successful foundation performance. This study also attempted to collect longitudinal data by replicating and expanding upon a similar…

Facing steep budget cuts and rising energy costs, many colleges are grappling with how to finance urgently needed, but capital intensive, energy efficiency upgrades on campus. One innovative approach, using return-oriented green revolving funds (GRFs), is a rapidly growing trend at colleges and universities. GRFs can invest in a variety of…

The Caltech Energy Conservation Investment Program (CECIP) was initiated in 2009. It manages $8 million within an existing fund in the school's endowment, which had been created to finance capital projects. Any member of the Caltech community may submit a project proposal, and projects are considered for approval as long as they have at least a 15…

"A Guide to Fundraising at Historically Black Colleges and Universities" is a comprehensive, research-based work that brings the best practices and expertise of seminal professionals to the larger Black college environment and beyond. Drawing on data-driven advice from interviews with successful Black college fundraisers and private sector…

The National Association of College and University Business Officers' (NACUBO's) "Guide to Unitizing Investment Pools" addresses the principles and concepts for administering a consolidated investment pool. Unitization is the mechanism by which investment funds are pooled to maximize investment efficiencies and provide information for donors,…

The nation's 4-year not-for-profit colleges and universities collectively held more than $400 billion in endowments in 2008. Some institutions' large endowments coupled with the high and growing cost of college have led to questions about institutions' use of endowments. This mandated report describes: (1) the size and change in value of…

Over the past two decades, endowments have become an increasingly important component of the typical university's resource base. We examine how U.S. doctoral institutions' endowment payout policies and spending decisions are affected by financial market shocks to endowments. While most endowments have formal payout policies intended to smooth…