Economy

University also looking to better capitalize on campus-developed technologies

As Louisiana’s colleges limp along after losing nearly half-a-billion dollars in state funding over the past four years, Southern University may emerge as the model for how universities restructure themselves going forward, higher education leaders said Wednesday.

University of Central Oklahoma kicked off its Always Central campaign on Tuesday. Although the announcement marked the official opening of the public phase of the campaign, the drive already has netted $30.4 million in donations.

E. Gordon Gee makes millions as president of Ohio State University, but a Dayton Daily News investigation found the university spends almost as much for Gee to travel the globe, throw parties, wine and dine donors, woo prospective faculty, hang out with students and staff and maintain a 9,600-square-foot mansion on 1.3 acres.

The Kansas Board of Regents approved a request Thursday to seek an additional $47.1 million in funding for higher education in 2013.

A college president once quipped that higher education is one of the few things that a person is willing to pay for but not receive. Another wise observer noted that college is the rare case where the customer tries to get as little as he can for the money.

Mississippi's institutions of higher learning have asked lawmakers for $72.4 million more for the fiscal year that begins next July 1.

Ferris State University is getting a bigger slice of state aid for keeping its tuition increase this summer to a minimum.

Anyone who needs a lot of money, as the University of California says it does, gets thinking about the fastest, easiest ways to bring in cash.

The University of Minnesota is offering a tuition freeze in exchange for new money from the Legislature. University President Eric Kaler is tying increased funding for the "U' to a tuition freeze for some undergraduates.