Learning Resources

Abstract: Introducing housing on a community college campus will affect several areas of campus life including dining, security, recreation, and student programming. Unlike four-year institutions, community colleges have limited activity after a certain hour with the exception of library and recreational facilities. Additional programs and services will be needed to support a 24-hour operation, which will have an impact on the overall operating costs of the college. This article is intended to identify the direct and indirect costs involved and assess the overall financial impact of operating student housing.

Abstract: While universities recognize the need for change, establishing an environment conducive to change requires time and movement through stages. In this article, I examine different tools and processes that can pave the way for innovation or change. These processes became evident in my research on the emergence of an interdisciplinary policy school jointly established on two campuses where previous models did not exist. The change came about because there was a confluence of forces that promoted it; these factors were strong enough to negate the barriers. There were key actions undertaken by the universities that promoted the change, including systematic program review, university-wide integrated planning, the appointment of an executive sponsor who had social and political capital, and the establishment of a “grassroots” working committee comprising faculty who were passionate about the initiative. However, there were equally important practices and policies that hindered the movement forward; these included institutional procedures that required multiple levels of approval in a lock-step process and the many facets of resistance to change. For universities contemplating a change agenda, the implementation of some of these processes and tools could potentially be beneficial in moving forward.

Abstract: In February 2008, the U.S. Army and Fayetteville State University established a partnership that has changed the process of healthcare education for active duty social workers. Before this time, the army relied on public universities to be solely responsible for recruiting, evaluating, and educating active duty social workers to serve the needs of service members and their families. However, to meet an immediate need for more social workers to deal with the wounds caused by the War on Terror and to help it get the best possible return on its educational investment, the army decided to partner with a university to establish a distance education Master of Social Work program at the Army Medical Department Center and School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, North Carolina was the university partner selected. This article outlines the background of the partnership and the issues other public universities should consider if they want to partner with the military or another federal agency. The article also highlights the benefits of such a partnership.

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.