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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
December 2, 2020

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Book Review: How University Budgets Work

By: Salvador D. Aceves, EdD

This book serves as a primer for establishing a baseline by which academic leaders can participate in conversations regarding finances at their institutions.

From Volume 49 Number 1 | October–December 2020

Abstract: by Dean O. Smith
Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore, MD
2019
200 Pages
ISBN 9781421432762

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
November 9, 2020

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Trends in Accreditation

How Will Accreditors Once Again Become Relevant for Higher Education?

By: Lynn Priddy, PhD, with Stephen G. Pelletier

Dr. Lynn Priddy answers questions posed by education writer Stephen G. Pelletier related to changes in accreditation and their effect on institutions and students.

From Volume 49 Number 1 | October–December 2020

Abstract: Having been on both the inside of regional accreditation and outside looking back on it, Lynn Priddy knows that accreditation has long tried to revolutionize itself, while at the same time increasingly becoming subject to federal regulatory burdens and expectations from the Department of Education. That has backed it into becoming a bureaucracy at the very time it needed to break out to focus on innovation, learning, and student success.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
July 17, 2020

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Academic Deans Reveal Their Leadership Styles

Annual Budgeting Becomes an Exercise in How Authority is Enacted

By: Nathan Harris

Academic deans adopt one of three approaches when developing the annual budget report for their colleges: distributed authorship, delegated authorship, or dominated authorship. Depending on the approach they select, deans can include and collaborate with their senior teams—or exclude, ignore, and alienate them. Their choice demonstrates how they lead.

From Volume 48 Number 4 | July–September 2020

Abstract: Few studies have investigated how academic deans enact their authority in Responsibility Center Budgeting (RCB), despite its widespread adoption. In this article I explore findings from a study that investigated how deans crafted a confidential annual budget report at an American university. Ultimately, deans adopted one of three approaches to crafting the report: delegating, distributing, or dominating authorship. Deans who distributed authorship collaborated with their senior teams to establish a shared sense of priorities for their colleges. In contrast deans who delegated and dominated authorship ignored and alienated members of their senior team during the budget review, engendering confusion and frustration.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
May 15, 2020

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Reduce Curriculum Costs While Increasing Student Enrollment

Optimizing Academic Balance Analyses Let Kentucky Institutions Stay Competitive

By: Kenneth L. Hoyt

Results of the study supplied evidence needed to support tough institutional decisions. The 13 Kentucky colleges and universities that participated in the research now have critically important data to use in making choices about how they best serve their students, maximize scarce resources, and sustain financial stability.

From Volume 48 Number 3 | April–June 2020

Abstract: An Optimizing Academic Balance (OAB) analysis provides colleges and universities with effective tools to use in making strategic academic decisions needed to stay competitive in the context of institutional mission, program quality, market potential, cost, and revenue. The Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities recently completed a three-year statewide OAB project with the participation of 13 higher education institutions. The results supported the colleges and universities in making tough decisions.


A Follow-Up

An introduction to the Optimizing Academic Balance process and early results of the research were published in the 2015 Planning for Higher Education article, “Reshaping Your Curriculum to Grow the Bottom Line,”. The current article, with final research data, represents the study’s wrap-up report.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
March 5, 2020

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A Guide for Optimizing Resource Allocation

Link Assessment, Strategic Planning, and Budgeting to Achieve Institutional Effectiveness

By: Dania Salem, Hiba Itani, Ali El-Hajj

By connecting assessment, strategic planning, and budgeting processes, the real needs and priorities of an institution are revealed. Colleges and universities can adapt the provided, step-by-step framework to their own institutional structure and methods.

From Volume 48 Number 2 | January–March 2020

Abstract: The article presents a framework for integrating assessment, strategic planning, and resource allocation at all levels of an institution. For that purpose, data are collected from academic departments and non-academic units. They are then integrated with strategic planning metrics into an assessment report that identifies the resources that need to be allocated, and to evaluate progress toward developing a strategic plan. The framework can be applied at the departmental or unit level, as well as at the institutional level. It provides valuable input for the budget process and can be used for updates in strategic planning.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
October 1, 2019

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If Tuition Rises . . .

. . . Does Racial and Ethnic Minority Student Enrollment Plummet?

By: QianQian Yu

When the cost of American higher education goes up, access to economic opportunity, social mobility, and positive academic outcomes are, subsequently, restricted for students of color. Campus admissions and retention planning professionals are first witnesses to the inequality.

From Volume 48 Number 1 | October–December 2019

Abstract: This article explores the impact of tuition increases on student retention and higher education admission and retention planning for racial and ethnic minorities. Research shows that the racial and ethnic minority student population on campus is negatively affected by tuition increases. Literature is examined for potential impacts of tuition increases on a student’s decision of school choice. And although literature provides little in the way of recommendations for resolving the issues associated with tuition increases, this article offers some suggestions for student retention planning.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
April 1, 2019

An Analysis of Instructional Expenditures in U.S. Public Higher Education

From 2004 Through 2015

By: Dawn Iwamasa, Michael Thrasher

Results indicate that, when adjusted for inflation, instructional expenditures at U.S. public institutions increased from 2004–2015; however, evidence suggests that the rise was more modest and less consistent than may be known.

From Volume 47 Number 3 | April–June 2019

Abstract: Due to the rising price of tuition, the prevailing narrative regarding higher education is that the cost of delivering a college degree is increasing substantially. However, the cost of delivering an education is not definitively linked to the price in tuition paid to attend. Prior studies confirmed small increases in instructional expenditures per full-time-equivalent student from the 1980s to 2000; however, more recent trends in instructional costs are relatively unknown. The purpose of this study was to track instructional expenditures from 2004 to 2015 at U.S. public two-year and four-year institutions, and to calculate those expenditures as a proportion of U.S. Gross Domestic Product.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
April 1, 2017

Fiscal Structure and Public College and University Credit Ratings

An Exploratory Analysis

By: Gabriel Ramon Serna, Joshua Cohen

By understanding how fiscal structure affects institutional credit ratings, leaders can better respond to today’s variable economic conditions.

From Volume 45 Number 3 | April–June 2017

Abstract: Using ordered response models often employed in public finance, we explore the possible determinants of public college and university credit ratings based on the fiscal structure of a number of institutions that are members of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). We argue that by understanding the role of fiscal structure in the determination of institutional credit ratings, leaders can respond appropriately to variable economic conditions. They can also begin to manage and plan the ways in which their operations and fiscal structure impact their debt costs through credit ratings.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
April 1, 2017

Organizing Financial Information to Support University Planning and Analysis

By: Mark Dingfield, Carolyn N. Ainslie

Before investing in complex and costly new technologies, first consider whether your institution would benefit from a redesigned chart of accounts.

From Volume 45 Number 3 | April–June 2017

Abstract: As colleges and universities plan efforts to improve financial reporting and analysis, which often entail making costly investments in new systems and tools, they should first evaluate whether to redesign the institution’s chart of accounts. The chart of accounts is the DNA of financial reports and is used to track financial activity across the institution. This article proposes a planning, evaluation, and design process for a new chart of accounts and identifies key considerations for leaders undertaking this effort.

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
April 1, 2017

Planning at Mesa Community College

Integrated and Informed for Our Improvement

By: Matt Ashcraft, Craig Jacobsen

Within the span of a year, it’s possible to make significant progress toward achieving and institutionalizing integrated planning and budgeting.

From Volume 45 Number 3 | April–June 2017

Abstract: In an era of heightened accreditation expectations, declining resources, and increasing competition, tools such as integrated planning and budgeting, evidence-based decision-making (EBDM) processes, an overarching continuous quality improvement (CQI) framework, and up-to-date technology solutions for managing planning processes are no longer optional. While Mesa Community College (MCC) has a long history of planning, the integration of planning and budgeting was limited and our planning system was outdated (as in beyond end-of-life outdated). Additionally, planning and budgeting processes lacked EBDM practices and an overarching CQI framework. MCC’s Strategic Planning Committee set about remedying all of these issues and did so within the span of a year.

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