Youngstown State University (YSU) uses the acronym "TRAC" (Target, Resources, Alignment, and Culture) to demonstrate the structure of its strategic planning process as it goes for a comeback in an area already devastated before the Great Recession hit. In this article from Trusteeship, the magazine of the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities (AGB), YSU board of Trustees chair Scott R.Schulick and YSU president Cynthia E. Anderson, describes that school's strategic plan and planning.

Even before the economic downturn, Youngstown State was experiencing tough financial times. State support had dropped 24 percent from 2001 to 2007, and it has fallen another 14.5 percent, net of stimulus money, since 2007. Having faced those conditions, the hardships that will accompany the end of stimulus funds in FY 2012 are all too real to us.

Fortunately, the board decided a while ago that we needed to re-examine our assumptions about cost, time, resources, planning, budgeting, governance, and institutional success. We were not willing to support a “cut back and hope” approach. We began learning more about effective governance, strategic finance, and what it takes to get through hard times, and we started to make changes.

Trustees and administrators alike wanted a simple approach, recognizing that “simple” is often not “easy.” The simple version of our efforts now is: Decide where the institution needs to be in the future, endorse and support activities that will cause it to get there, align everything we do in that direction, and reorient the culture accordingly. An acronym could be TRAC: Target, Resources, Alignment, and Culture.

Don't miss out on joining nearly 1,500 of your colleagues and peers at higher education's premier planning event of 2010, SCUP–45. The Society for College and University Planning's 45th annual, international conference and idea marketplace is July 10–14 in Minneapolis!

Click on the title, Rethinking Conventional Wisdom About Higher Ed Finance, to access the resource described, below.

Dennis Jones and Jane Wellman describe this paper:

America faces a growing crisis in public postsecondary education, as an unprecedented fiscal meltdown plays out at a time of growing consensus about the urgent need to nearly double levels of degree attainment. Instead of taking steps to develop an investment strategy to reduce access and achievement gaps, we are moving in the opposite direction: reductions in state finances, increases in tuition, cutbacks in enrollments, and reductions in courses and programs students need to succeed.

In an effort to advance the conversation about improving performance in higher education, we’ve identified our ‘top ten’ list of conventional wisdoms about higher education finance.

That list, explained in the white paper linked to above, includes:

Conventional Wisdom #1: Spending increases in higher education are inevitable, because there is no way to improve the productivity of teaching and learning without sacrificing quality.

Conventional Wisdom #2: More money means more quality, and quality means higher performance.

Conventional Wisdom #3: Institutions can make up for lost public subsidies by increasing research revenue.

Conventional Wisdom #4: Because state governments are now minority shareholders in higher education, public policy goals should take a backseat to market rules in steering institutions.

Conventional Wisdom #5: Colleges and universities cannot be expected to invest in change or to pursue state priorities without new money. Any reductions in funds must be replaced before funds can be considered as “new.”

Conventional Wisdom #6: Instructional costs rise by the level of the student taught...upper division students are more expensive than lowerdivision students, graduate students are more expensive than undergraduates, and doctoral candidates are the most expensive of all.

Conventional Wisdom #7: An expansive undergraduate curriculum is a symbol of quality, and necessary to attract students.

Conventional Wisdom #8: States can improve postsecondary productivity if they direct more students to community colleges.

Conventional Wisdom #9: The state financing mechanism for higher education is broken, and we should turn to the federal government to generate the resources needed for the future.

Conventional Wisdom #10: American higher education is grossly overfunded, and the investments needed to increase attainment can be achieved entirely by reallocating resources within existing institutions.

Understanding the Costs of Public Higher Education by Peter McPherson and David Shulenburger

"In the case of higher education costs, diametrically opposed views have persisted over time. Why?"

Paul T. Brinkman and Anthony W. Morgan. 2010. Financial Planning: Strategies and Lessons Learned. Planning for Higher Education. 38(3): 5–14. 

This article is part of a themed issue of SCUP's journal, Planning for Higher Education, focusing on Issues in Higher Education Finance. Click, above, on the journal image to go to this issue's full table of contents or on the article title to go to this specific article.

Abstract - "This article explains the cost of education in public research universities. 'Price,' meaning 'tuition,' is often incorrectly substituted for 'cost,' meaning expenditures by the university that make the education possible. University cost is disaggregated to enable readers to distinguish between the costs associated with providing education to students and the costs of other non-educational activities that tend to produce their own revenue. While tuition has increased rapidly, real cost per student for providing education has been roughly constant for nearly 20 years. Increased revenue from tuition has been almost precisely offset by reduced revenue from state appropriations."

SCUP members were sent a printed copy of this issue, can read the full article on line, and can download a PDF at no additional charge. Nonmembers can purchase a PDF of this article here.

Financial Planning: Strategies and Lessons Learned by Paul T. Brinkman and Anthony W. Morgan

"Financial planning is more important than ever as colleges and universities face serious if not unprecedented financial challenges."

Paul T. Brinkman and Anthony W. Morgan. 2010. Financial Planning: Strategies and Lessons Learned. Planning for Higher Education. 38(3): 5–14. 

This article is part of a themed issue of SCUP's journal, Planning for Higher Education, focusing on Issues in Higher Education Finance. Click, above, on the journal image to go to this issue's full table of contents or on the article title to go to this specific article.

Abstract - "Financial planning is an increasingly critical function within higher education institutions. Its pivotal and multifaceted role is described in detail in this article. Based on many years of experience in higher education, the authors offer practical suggestions on how best to locate the function organizationally and perform it effectively. They discuss how environmental trends, both external and internal, are likely to impact future financial planning, the several ways in which financial planning can add value in the decision-making process, and how organizational context influences financial planning. The focus throughout is on organizational dynamics rather than analytic models."

SCUP members were sent a printed copy of this issue, can read the full article on line, and can download a PDF at no additional charge. Nonmembers can purchase a PDF of this article here.