78. Making The Hard Decisions

All across the higher ed landscape, institutions are faced with choices on how to move forward—or not—in the face of persistent headwinds. Some colleges and universities have simply chosen to close their doors in the face of financial hardship.  Others have opted to downsize or pursue mergers. Still others have looked to significant restructuring, like West Virginia University.  With the exception of outright closures, the goal of these changes should be to allow institutions to continue to do the most good for the most students. As we are seeing, this involves making difficult decisions on managing resources. There is often a focus on structural and physical resources—buildings and grounds, for instance. There is also considerable attention paid to human resources, including faculty and staff, and the impact on student services.  In this episode I’ll discuss the basic resource that drives all of this: finances.  The simple truth is that if higher education cannot ensure its own fiscal viability, it cannot continue to fulfill its essential mission to serve the public good.   EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast Network.