BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Here we go again. Late last month, the board of trustees fired Suffolk University’s president, Margaret McKenna, for cause. She is the fifth president in five years to depart the school. The six-month saga had more thrills, spills, and missteps than the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and has become something…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL In an op-ed in the New York Times last month, Ford Foundation president, Darren Walker, speaks to the value of college internships. Walker noted the personal impact: “As a low-income kid from a small town who entered college without an extended network, my internships equipped me with the skills, confidence and relationships…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL American higher education’s operational model is based on outmoded — and some (myself included) would argue, unsustainable — revenue and expense assumptions. The premise is that student-generated revenues will expand to offset increasing operational expenses of the institutions. However, the decline in per-student net tuition revenues and the backlash against higher…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Let the games begin. As we watch the negotiated spectacle that will play out at both political conventions, these staged reality television moments will also be set against a backdrop of heightened social, cultural, racial, and economic tensions. America has not seemed as divided nor as tribal since the 1960s. What will…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Tim Goral published an extremely interesting interview with former president of the Appalachian College Association, Alice Brown, in University Business last month. Ms. Brown’s comments reflected the wisdom of a professional who has served for 15 years leading a consortium of 35 private, liberal arts colleges in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia,…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Governance is sometimes a messy business. On the national political level, for example, the intersection of ideology, political posturing, and the demands and inflexibility of competing interests within the two political parties and between the branches of government has led to the deep dysfunction that angers voters. College Campuses are Generally…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL One of the most persistent problems facing American higher education is how best to create a seamless pathway among the various higher education sectors. This is especially problematic for community college students seeking to transfer to four-year colleges and universities. For them, the transfer pathway is a bumpy one full of…
Reporting in “CNN Money,” Heather Long notes that college enrollments have been dropping since 2010. By the fall of 2014, there were more than 800,000 fewer students than in 2010. Ted Mitchell, US Under Secretary of Education, suggests: “Historically, as the economy improves and Americans get back to work, college enrollment declines.” Ms. Long notes…
The National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) published its report on tuition and revenue trends last month. NACUBO surveyed 401 colleges and universities, including 305 smaller colleges, 57 comprehensive and doctoral universities, and 39 research institutions. It also compared this year’s results with previous data collection. The data show that American higher…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Last week, Thomas Farragher provided some thoughtful commentary on the perils of underfunding public higher education in Massachusetts. It’s an important discussion that reaches well beyond how much money flows to higher education. Mr. Farragher argued that the cost of attending U Mass Amherst is $26,445 annually but that tuition is…