The University of North Carolina system includes 16 universities, from large campuses with high research activity to small liberal arts institutions. They differ in many ways, from location to student … Continue reading “Did You Know? Not All UNC Students Get the Same Funding”
Everything that the UNC system and its constituent institutions do is dependent on a generous inflow of money. In fiscal year 2020, the UNC system received $10.2 billion in revenues, … Continue reading “Did You Know? Where UNC System’s $10 Billion in Revenue Comes From”
According to one recent estimate, American colleges in the last few years, in a period of extraordinary enrollment decline, have added 70 million square feet of new instruction and research … Continue reading “The Edifice Complex Is a Threat to University Budgets”
It only took a global pandemic to force public and private universities to cut their spending. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that about 650,000 jobs were cut in the … Continue reading “Did You Know? COVID-19 Budget Cuts Hit Students and Profs, Not Admins”
Public colleges spend public money, but college officials are reluctant to make information about their budgets easy to understand. That aversion to transparency makes it easier to pass non-instructional expenses … Continue reading “Without Financial Transparency, Colleges Mislabel Research Spending as Instructional”
Explaining higher education policy is never easy (even to people who are involved in it). Over the years, while training young writers for the Martin Center, I have come up … Continue reading “The Four Perspectives of Higher Education Policy Explained”
Reliable information is a prerequisite for good management. How can you make intelligent decisions if you are basing them on shaky information? This has been an ongoing problem for the … Continue reading “UNC Faculty Teaching Loads Report Is Insufficient for Making Policy”
The University of Missouri, where I teach and which I dearly love, is in crisis. Freshman enrollment at the university’s Columbia campus (Mizzou) is down by a whopping 35% from … Continue reading “How Not to Recover from a Crisis, Mizzou Edition”
What’s to be done about “low-productivity” degree programs?
North Carolina’s latest higher education budget has some good features, but could be better.