For years, as the stock market roared, educational endowments swelled, helping private secondary schools and colleges provide more financial aid, expand and attract better faculty. But with the financial markets in crisis, those days are over. Today educational institutions are cutting spending, delaying projects and holding off on hiring. While many schools and colleges say their commitment to helping families pay the costs of education will not waver, some experts maintain that as investments shrink and donations fall, some institutions will be forced to cut back on financial aid...
...At colleges across the country, the economic crisis is playing out in ways large and small, immediate and long-term. It is creating short-term problems that school officials have scurried to patch. And it is creating more-fundamental worries about the future. Many administrators are finding that most, if not all, of their revenue streams are under pressure, including government funding, tuition payments and donors' gifts. Most are rethinking fundraising campaigns, construction projects and tuition levels as they try to predict the road ahead in an uncertain time. And most are working hard to maintain and increase financial aid so they can continue to attract and retain students...
To be persuasive on college costs, universities must be more open about their budgets, a panel of college leaders said here today at the annual meeting of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. But budget transparency will be a challenge, they said, as universities have long sought to keep some of their costs away from the prying eyes of lawmakers and competitors in higher education...
Democrats fared well in many state elections last week, with the party gaining full control of state governments (winning majorities in both chambers of state legislatures where Democrats hold the governor’s office) in three places where Republicans had led at least one part of those branches. The three states are Delaware, New York, and Wisconsin, according to stateline.org...
Harvard University is considering spending cuts because the economic slowdown may reduce federal grants and the school's substantial endowment, President Drew Faust said Monday...Harvard's is the nation's largest university endowment and provides about a third of the annual operating budget. Faust said the school is looking at ways to cut spending and will review compensation costs, which account for nearly half of the budget...
The American Council on Education will provide $2-million in grants to veterans-friendly institutions and create a Web site to inform veterans about their education benefits, the group announced on Monday.The grants of $100,000 each, which will be financed by the Wal-Mart Foundation, will reward colleges that have created programs to help veterans enroll and succeed in higher education. Grant recipients will be required to use a portion of the money to help other institutions develop similar programs...
...After a decade of steady growth, the economic crisis has led to a spike in applications across the City University of New York's community colleges. In September and October — one-third of the application period for the spring semester — the number of applicants who made a CUNY college their first choice was already 15 percent greater than all of last year. In some fields, like health services, the growth has been even more rapid, as much as 30 percent on some campuses. The increased demand comes as CUNY is wrestling with how to deal with steep cuts in its budget...
An increasing need for accounting majors has forced recruiters at the Big Four firms to seek new and creative ways to attract top talent from universities across the country, including Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin...
