When Susan Stuebner became president of Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire in 2016, she faced a $4 million operating loss and a projected $2.6 million deficit for the following year. Stuebner made significant changes: She cut five majors, laid off employees and, in one of her first moves, initiated financial training for the board of […]

Rogue spending—buying outside a purchasing contract—can be an issue at colleges large and small. Here’s how the small college pros rein it in. – Help spenders put a face to your name. This is easier at smaller colleges, says Karen Khattari, director of general services and procurement at Cedar Crest College. “Everybody knows me, and […]

While many regional consortia use the collective power of members to negotiate purchasing contracts with volume discounts, it can pay to think beyond neighboring colleges when looking at this cost-saving solution. That’s what the 19 members of the LAMP Consortium did when they joined colleges from around the country to get affordable access to Sakai, […]

If there’s one thing small college purchasing managers know for sure, it’s that they have to be smart about a lot of things. “At larger schools, people in purchasing have more specialization—they only do IT or facilities or science. Those of us at small colleges have to be able to do everything,” says Allison Canada, […]

Clouds that emerged throughout 2017 are hanging over the heads of campus administrators, posing potentially huge impacts to higher ed as a whole. Just a few of the significant national developments include: the proposed $9 billion in cuts to the U.S. Department of Education for fiscal year 2018—which if implemented will affect Stafford Loan financing, […]

University of Maryland, Baltimore County Cost cut Refurbishing rather than replacing classroom tablet armchairs Savings Link to main story: Colleges tackle budget pruning $370,000 on 1,000 chairs Trigger Needed to replace after four decades of use had battered the chairs   Nitty gritty New chairs costing $450 each had smaller tablet sizes and weren’t as sturdy. Maryland state […]

The headlines say it all. “Texas universities forced to trim their budgets, even with big state cuts averted.” —Texas Tribune “University of Alaska budget cut by $8 million in legislative compromise” —Alaska Dispatch News Subhead: Case studies on how small ideas bloomed into noticeable savings “University of Missouri to cut 400 positions amid budget woes” —US […]

The momentum building behind higher ed analytics is hardly surprising, considering the explosion of tech tools available to make sense of institutional data. What might surprise some, though, is who on campus is responsible for predictive analytics. Rather than assigning the task to institutional research or creating a new department, schools are tapping administrators in […]