Learning Resources

Abstract: This article reports on a methodology long used by The Texas A&M University System—notably the campuses of Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University-College Station—to monitor the efficiency with which their resources are employed in the enterprise. Others can now use these concepts to respond to and prepare for these new fiscal realities, to react before institutional weakness becomes too enervating, and to help constructively shape the changes that are coming, rather than simply react to them. Concomitant with that methodology is a proposed model to apply these findings to examine complex financial issues that currently influence higher education and will continue to do so during the next decade.

Abstract: Over the past decade, the escalating price for a college education has become a prominent concern among the American public, institutions of higher education, and state and federal governments. As a result, much effort has been expended in examining and seeking solutions to this complex problem, with a significant focus on the costs of delivering higher education. This article provides a basic overview of the concept of cost in higher education and related issues, discusses the major consumers of higher education cost data and their perspectives, outlines the major sources of data on higher education costs, and describes some of the major (and perennial) issues related to higher education costs.

Abstract: This article uses the results of a national study to propose several multidimensional planning models for institutional planners and researchers. It focuses on developing, supporting, and using a number of dimensions within six domains that the research study identified as important factors for inclusion in planning models. The domains are external influences on student assessment, institutional context (type, control, and size), institutional approach to student assessment, institution-wide support for student assessment, assessment management policies and practices, and uses and impacts of student assessment.

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to emphasize the concept of utopia, which universities have used throughout history in developing their “spaces of knowledge.” This concept should continue to be an objective in the 21st century as universities look for paradigms in the architectural layout of their institutions. The implicit principle of this article is that good architecture is a necessary component in achieving educational excellence.

Abstract: The quality of campus life in large universities has declined over the years as faculty have given up responsibility for student life outside the classroom and institutions have become ever more bureaucratized. To solve this problem, universities should establish systems of small, decentralized academic communities modeled ultimately on the residential colleges of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. In the United States, Harvard and Yale Universities first adopted this residential college model in the 1930s, and it is now spreading to many institutions, public and private, large and small.

Abstract: This article examines the academic planning implications of “The Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act of 2000.” The act sharply reduces Social Security retirement benefit penalties previously imposed on 65- to 69-year-old professionals who earned more than nominal incomes after enrolling in the program, potentially delaying their retirement decisions. Further, the average salary level of senior professors in U.S. colleges and universities places them among those who will most heavily benefit from the act, which might change the age composition of academic faculties significantly over time. This article closes with a discussion of the act’s potential impact on faculty turnover rates, academic staffing patterns, and the age distribution of academic faculties.