BY MATTHEW BOEDY Two recent major surveys on public opinion about higher education offer differing details but the same dark picture of public opinion about higher education. They also offer the same roadmap for faculty advocacy to reverse that dangerous trend. First, there was a Chronicle of Higher Education survey in early September. The Chronicle…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” This adage, or some version of it, is widely attributed to Benjamin Franklin or Winston Churchill or 1970s self-help author Alan Lakein. Regardless of origin, the wisdom is applicable to many U.S. colleges and universities today. As institutions continue to face uphill challenges in their…
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,…
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…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL If you live in New England, you’ve likely heard a great deal about the imminent demise of small private colleges. Just this week, Southern Vermont College announced it would close. Boston Magazine led with a cover story headline last month: “The End? Boston’s Small Colleges are Expensive, In Debt, and on…
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…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL The higher education community is noticing with increasing interest and some alarm the growing number of mergers and acquisitions that occurred in American higher education in 2018. Are there lessons that might be learned from these events? Here are some preliminary thoughts: We should not assume that what appears to be…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL In our book, How to Run a College: A Practical Guide for Trustees, Faculty, Administrators and Policymakers, Dr. Joey King and I argue that colleges project themselves to fail should they continue to use their current operating models. There is a point where the lines cross for net tuition revenue and…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL In How to Run a College: A Practical Guide for Trustees, Faculty, Administrators and Policymakers, Dr. Joey King and I make a case that colleges must begin to reimagine themselves by rethinking their operating models. Reduce Dependence on Tuition Revenue It no longer makes sense to depend so heavily on tuition…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL When you live in cities like Boston and work in higher education, it’s impossible not to feel simultaneously a tremendous sense of history and some trepidation about the future. The broad expanse of the Charles River outside my windows offers a sweeping, encompassing view of wealthy universities with 400-year old traditions,…