Resources for higher ed budget crisis
October 24, 2019 3:55 PM Subscribe
My institution of higher education, like many, is facing a budget crisis. I’m part of a team tasked with coming up with ideas for how to address it. I’m hoping someone can point me to a sort of catalog of ideas, big and small, for ways institutions of higher ed have found to save money.
Outsourcing janitorial, maintenance, security, landscaping, dining and (dangerously - can easily backfire) IT.
Reducing power consumption: lighting intensity, higher summer temps, lower winter temps.
Higher deductibles and co-insurance for faculty and staff health insurance.
Also think about revenue: international students, summer school, industry partnerships for engineering departments, raising parking fees, instituting or raising student fees for ancillary services, low-risk JVs in luxury student housing.
posted by MattD at 4:55 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Reducing power consumption: lighting intensity, higher summer temps, lower winter temps.
Higher deductibles and co-insurance for faculty and staff health insurance.
Also think about revenue: international students, summer school, industry partnerships for engineering departments, raising parking fees, instituting or raising student fees for ancillary services, low-risk JVs in luxury student housing.
posted by MattD at 4:55 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
...and of course the two-in-one outsourcing cost saver and revenue enhancer of bringing national fast food franchises into the dining line-up.
posted by MattD at 4:57 PM on October 24, 2019
posted by MattD at 4:57 PM on October 24, 2019
Other things to think about: student retention, looking at enrollment revenue: transfer agreements with junior colleges, international summer programs, partnering with international agents, out-of-state recruitment, etc etc.
posted by WedgedPiano at 7:31 PM on October 24, 2019
posted by WedgedPiano at 7:31 PM on October 24, 2019
My institution of higher learning, as one part of a lot of things, slashed janitorial services in response to a financial crisis. This certainly saved some cash but has not been great for morale among faculty and staff as now office trash cans are only emptied weekly and the carpets are no longer cleaned annually.
There were also reductions in pay raises, massively increased scrutiny of new hires, and global budget cuts that led to a number of departments and units laying off a lot of people even though it wasn’t exaaactly mandated from on high.
posted by telepanda at 7:58 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
There were also reductions in pay raises, massively increased scrutiny of new hires, and global budget cuts that led to a number of departments and units laying off a lot of people even though it wasn’t exaaactly mandated from on high.
posted by telepanda at 7:58 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
@telepanda, our trash cans went recently from weekly to monthly.
Other things I've seen include layoffs, cutting library collections budgets, reducing retirement matches
posted by kbuxton at 8:25 PM on October 24, 2019
Other things I've seen include layoffs, cutting library collections budgets, reducing retirement matches
posted by kbuxton at 8:25 PM on October 24, 2019
A very serious look at the admin side. Not the office workers, but the assistant deans to the assistant deans. See if you can find an org chart from 20 or 30 years ago and see how many administrative leadership positions there were(there will be far fewer). For each new position, ask what actual value they bring to the school.
posted by rockindata at 2:58 AM on October 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by rockindata at 2:58 AM on October 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Also football. Football is a giant money sink at all but the largest D1 schools.
posted by rockindata at 3:00 AM on October 25, 2019
posted by rockindata at 3:00 AM on October 25, 2019
We bring in money with night school. Certificates in things like project management, which has a huge demand. Also international students.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 5:59 AM on October 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Valancy Rachel at 5:59 AM on October 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Anyway, one main way to save money is to use less tenure track professors and more adjuncts and lecturers to teach classes. I don’t recommend that, but it’s popular. Likewise, allow less skilled instructors to teach more students. It’s great for the bottom line, but probably not for students.
A less popular but equally effective method is to cap administrator salaries at say 2x what the median full professor earns.
Administrator brass is a huge cash sink, according to the chronicle of higher ed etc.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:03 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]