The era of “quality at any cost” has come to an end in the face of declining state support and flattening net tuition revenues. Our briefing outlines how academic leaders can continue to enhance quality by reallocating resources from lower impact activities to higher impact, mission-aligned priorities.
An unsustainable financial modelRevenue growth at most colleges and universities has slowed significantly since the recession, and revenues are actually declining at a growing share of institutions as a result of state budget cuts and pressures on net tuition revenue.
This resource is part of The Essential Guide to Cost Containment Strategies for Higher Education. Access this guide for 500+ critical tactics for immediate and long-term cost savings.
While cuts to administrative costs are necessary to get back on the path to financial stability, they won’t solve the problem on their own. Universities—even those with strong finances—must find ways to continue to enhance academic excellence and student success despite limited new funds.
The cost-quality mythA major barrier to adjusting to the new financial reality is the belief that any reduction in academic resources must necessarily reduce quality. Excellence in instruction and scholarship clearly require significant investments of faculty time and other resources, but the relationship between costs and quality is not linear.
Excess spending on the proliferation of courses, specializations, and programs spreads resources more thinly across a broader array of activities, reducing quality by diverting funds from institutional priorities while at the same time producing a level of complexity that creates barriers to student success. Reallocating resources from activities that are not aligned with…