book cover: How to Run a College

The Must-Read for Your Higher Ed Summer Reading List

BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL The complex challenges facing colleges and universities are well known: changing demographics and consumer preferences, aging facilities, and the need to keep pace with technological advances. College closures and mergers are becoming increasingly common. But what can faculty and other colleges and university leaders — trustees, presidents, alumni and parent boards,…

The Search for a Cash Cow & Other Strategic Planning Flaws

BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL It’s no secret that American colleges and universities are under stress from a variety of challenges. Unfortunately, most try to tackle these challenges individually rather than strategically, a practice that rarely results in long-term solutions. The demographic crisis confronting institutions, most acutely those that are tuition-dependent, is laid out clearly in…

Unprepared Trustees: A Critical Problem in Higher Education

BY ROBERT A. SCOTT Every state requires hairstylists to receive certifications before they serve the public. There are certification programs for hospital trustees and education programs for corporate directors. Yet few states require training for college and university trustees, individuals who are fiduciaries for the more than $1.2 trillion in operating funds and endowments held…

yellow bird

Deadline Extensions: The Canary in Higher Ed’s Coal Mine?

BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Last week, Melissa Korn reported in the Wall Street Journal that Oberlin, the University of Chicago, George Washington University, Washington University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, among others, have extended their January application deadlines. She notes, “Some offered the extra time only to seniors who began but didn’t submit applications. Others sent broad…