Institutions that have organized and centralized their data enjoy an obvious advantage in grappling with strategic planning and other issues. As the drumbeat for accountability, planning, and demonstrating effectiveness to internal and external stakeholders intensifies, the stature and importance of institutional research offices on most campuses…

The portrait of the American college senior is a mix of economic pressures and shifting choices. Understanding that the senior year represents another critical transition point for college students, many U.S. colleges and universities are taking intentional steps to help students bring closure to their collegiate experience and accomplish the…

Provides basic information that a college or university chief financial officer (CFO) must know about enrollment management in order to understand how to work effectively with admissions and financial aid professionals to maximize tuition revenue and enroll the optimal class. Specific suggestions for CFO involvement are outlined. (Author/MSE)

An effective college or university budget process is dependent on the culture of the institution. Different processes and budget types are appropriate to different institutions. Understanding the interrelationships of budgeting, planning, and financial modeling can help make the budget more predictable and relevant to the college's values and…

Pressure for cost containment is growing at even very financially healthy colleges and universities. Institutions need to think concurrently about cost containment in terms of temporary, mid-term, and permanent changes to institutional operations and priorities. It may be productive to reframe the issue as "funding priorities" rather than as "cost…

Rapid advances in information technology have rendered conventional approaches to planning and budgeting useless, and no single method is universally appropriate. The most successful planning efforts are consistent with the institution's overall plan, and may combine conventional, opportunistic, and entrepreneurial approaches. Chief financial…

College trustees have a responsibility to institute investment policies that preserve real endowment value. The chief financial officer's responsibility varies, but at a minimum should provide the board with essential information and ensure that trustees understand the importance of policy decisions. Critical tasks include establishing and…

In higher education institutions, decisions about spending patterns are established in the budget and executed by a diverse, decentralized group of institutional managers. To make the budget a vibrant management tool, each institutional constituency must view it as a document that helps advance institutional mission as well as a way to measure…

Introduces the concept of college and university campus master planning, describes factors and actors in the process, discusses the relationship to capital budgeting, and offers a typical master planning and capital-budgeting process as illustration. Developing a comprehensive institutional master plan can profoundly affect the institution's…

The role of the college or university chief financial officer in institutional risk management is (1) to identify risk (physical, casualty, fiscal, business, reputational, workplace safety, legal liability, employment practices, general liability), (2) to develop a campus plan to reduce and control risk, (3) to transfer risk, and (4) to track and…

Examines the current interest in consortia among colleges and universities, and describes Five Colleges, Inc., one of the oldest consortiums in the United States. The advantages, challenges, and factors in such collaborative relationships are discussed, with some attention given to financial issues. (MSE)

One of the most critical components of the college or university chief financial officer's job is budget planning, especially using formulas. A discussion of funding formulas looks at advantages, disadvantages, and types of formulas used by states in budgeting for higher education, and examines how chief financial officers can position the campus…

Examines the work of the college or university chief financial officer (CFO) in government relations, focusing on the CFO's responsibilities, methods of working with state legislatures, pitfalls in legislative relations, and special problems faced by institutions in capital cities. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the use of peer institutions as a component in college and university financial and budgetary decision making. The use of peer institutions to establish points of reference is an inevitable outcome of pressures for increased input and accountability. The key factors to be used in determining the extent of a peer-institution match are…

Review of demographic changes finds that by midcentury a majority of the college population will be minorities, and all of the net increase in student population will come from minorities. Implications for recruitment, remediation, and retention are drawn. (DB)