Course Sharing: Business Models and the Learning Ecosystem in Action
Read the third piece in a series focused on exploring the concept of a postsecondary learning ecosystem—one that includes not only traditional higher education institutions but also alternative providers that connect learners to the labor market.
August 10, 2023
Essential Partners: Chief Academic Officers and Chief Financial Officers
The latest post in the ACAO series shares perspectives of two chief academic officers—one from a public institution in the Midwest with 12,700 students, the other from a private university in New England with 7,000 students. The topic is the CAO’s working relationship with arguably the most important fellow vice president on campus—the chief financial officer.
April 24, 2020
Survival to Transformation: Navigating Fiscal Distress During COVID-19
The challenge ahead for higher education is unprecedented, and the typical solutions won’t sustain our institutions. If we can’t go back to what we used to be before COVID-19, we must instead evolve to something better, writes Philip Rogers.
April 23, 2020
Are More Colleges Closing? (Spoiler Alert: Probably Not)
There is no doubt that colleges and universities in demographically challenged states are facing serious headwinds. Yet, stories suggesting that colleges are closing more frequently than they did before don’t withstand a careful examination of the data.
September 23, 2019
Second-Wave Competency-Based Education: A Focus on Quality
The second CBE wave—more grounded and focused on quality than the first—is underway, and resources to support development of high-quality programs include the University of Wisconsin Flexible Option case study.
September 25, 2017
Seeking Calm in the Middle of an Imperfect Storm
The pace of change in higher education used to be seen as glacial, slow or barely perceptible. Today it is more akin to a hurricane. Misericordia President Thomas Botzman explains how his institution has navigated this shift.
April 12, 2017
Budgeting for Institutional Success
When higher education leaders gather, no theme is more common—or as tension-filled—as budgeting. ACE Leadership Director Jim Sirianni looks at the budget models available to colleges and universities institutions, and the need to move forward together on a high-impact change when adopting a new model.
November 14, 2016
Lead with Data. Inspire with Leadership.
Bob Shea, senior fellow at the National Association of College and University Business Officers, sat on the ACE2016 panel “Higher Education Business Models: Leading with Data to Deliver Results.” During the Q&A, the common theme emerged of how to get started on the difficult work of moving to a sustainable economic model. Shea considers that question.
May 25, 2016
The Past Can’t Be Prologue
Dennis P. Jones, president emeritus of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, writes that higher education must take the lead in ensuring that college remains (and is made more) affordable. Assuming this challenge—and responsibility—will require extraordinary leadership skills by college administrators, and require nothing less than a change in institutional cultures.
May 11, 2016
The Price We Pay for Bad Data on College Costs
Matthew Soldner of the American Institutes for Research writes about three things senior leaders need to know as they navigate the challenges facing their campuses: institutional spending, and how spending relates to cost and student outcomes. The first post in a series introducing three background papers prepared for a roundtable on financial data in higher education.
April 27, 2016
Faculty and CFOs: It’s Not Us Versus Them
September 9, 2015