How does the physical footprint of a college campus evolve while its leaders balance the costs of new technologies, interest rates, construction, real estate, and deferred maintenance? The mechanical complexities of this ecosystem are only the first part of the conversation; what happens when you add the emotional ties your constituencies may have to the outcomes of your decisions? This week on the show, we have two guests well-positioned to help us understand this campus balancing act. Liz Clar...
Dec 16, 2019•24 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Sustainability efforts on campus are no longer limited to environmental sustainability. Diversity and inclusion, social justice, and economic impact — among others — are all efforts requiring sustainability thinking. Bringing leadership together with faculty and student constituencies to build a governance structure to institutionalize these efforts is key. In this episode, New Mexico State University Strategic Chief Financial Officer Ruth Johnston joins NACUBO Assistant Director for Advocacy an...
Nov 18, 2019•18 min•Season 4Ep. 9
George Washington University Associate Vice President & University Controller Sharon Heinle sits down with NACUBO’s senior director of accounting policy Sue Menditto to discuss the need to translate financial information for non-financial people effectively. The Controller’s Office at GW is the waystation for a wide variety of financial information from tax through development and research; ensuring that leadership departments and stakeholders across campus each have current and accurate dat...
Oct 21, 2019•21 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Tom Simard is Deputy Commissioner for Finance and Administration at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and he joins NACUBO’s Bryan Dickson, assistant director for advocacy and student financial services. Massachusetts is stepping up to face the question of institutional solvency with a new metric that aims to better understand the nature of previous closures in the state, and provide a diagnostic into potential future challenges facing the state’s institutions. What is the regulato...
Sep 23, 2019•20 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Joanna Gramma is a senior consultant at Vantage Technology Consulting Group and she joins NACUBO’s Megan Schneider, senior director of government affairs, to take on a subject at the intersection of technology and higher education: centralizing a new set of higher education student and institution data at the federal level. Many institutions already make this sort of data public on their own websites; but advocates for a new system argue that a centralized data source would offer a useful tool f...
Aug 26, 2019•19 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Syracuse University SVP and CFO Amir Rahnamay-Azar knows a thing or two about steam. His university’s steam generator has been providing power and more for decades across the university. When it came time for a major retrofit, it came time to revisit facilities that were core to the operation of the institution. As he says, “I need steam, not a steam generator.” So they turned to a Public-Private Partnership, a relationship that allows the university to address their power generation requirement...
Aug 05, 2019•17 min•Season 4Ep. 5
This week on NACUBO In Brief, we bring you part four of our four-part series dissecting one of higher education’s biggest challenges: financial modeling and forecasting in the face of great uncertainty. In our last episode, we presented sophisticated applications of scenario planning that can help institutions take their budgeting and forecasting models to the next level. In our final episode, our guests offer a survey of their experience working with campuses that have experience in using these...
Jul 15, 2019•18 min•Season 4Ep. 4
This week on NACUBO In Brief, we bring you part three of our four-part series dissecting one of higher education’s biggest challenges: financial modeling and forecasting in the face of great uncertainty. In our last episode, we discussed how institutions can build a forecasting and scenario planning process that is grounded in budgeting. This week, we take scenario planning to the next level with examples of sophisticated applications that can help institutions see around corners. NACUBO’s senio...
Jul 15, 2019•18 min•Season 4Ep. 3
This week on NACUBO In Brief, we bring you part two of our four-part series dissecting one of higher education’s biggest challenges: financial modeling and forecasting in the face of great uncertainty. In our last episode, we made the case for the value of forecasting. This week, we dive deeper, discussing the process of forecasting with illustrations of how institutions can build a forecasting and scenario planning process that is grounded in budgeting. NACUBO’s senior director of accounting po...
Jul 15, 2019•18 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Unstable future revenues. Ballooning costs. Shifting demographics. For some, the challenges facing our institutions are no longer posing questions about what our schools will look like in the future, but whether our schools have a future at all. Even the most fortunate are concerned that there won’t be sufficient resources to sustain excellence — much less fund new ambitions. This week on NACUBO In Brief, we bring you part one of a four-part series dissecting one of higher education’s biggest ch...
Jul 15, 2019•14 min•Season 4Ep. 1
American Council on Education research vice president Lorelle Espinosa sits down with NACUBO’s Lindsay Wayt this week to share key findings from the association’s recent Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education report. This report’s findings illuminate key underlying issues facing equity in higher education and perceptions of the value of a higher education in key demographics. View the interactive report on ACE’s website . Links & Notes Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education — Report from Ame...
Jun 24, 2019•17 min•Season 3Ep. 12
NACUBO’s Liz Clark speaks with Sophia Harding of Staffordshire University and Lucy Heming of Imperial College, both university administrators from universities in England, to compare trends in public opinion about higher education and discuss how institutions are preparing to deliver on their educational missions into the foreseeable future.
Jun 11, 2019•21 min•Season 3Ep. 11
State institutions are increasingly reliant on tuition dollars to fund operations in the face of declines in state appropriations. Sophia Laderman joins NACUBO's Megan Schneider and brings the latest insights from the State Higher Education Finance report to help us paint a clearer picture of today’s funding landscape. Links & Notes 2018 SHEF Report — State Higher Education Executive Officers Association...
May 28, 2019•24 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Institutions dedicate a significant portion of their tuition and fee revenue to help families offset the cost of college. Just how much? It’s significant, says NACUBO Senior Director of Research and Policy Analysis, Ken Redd. This grant aid — aid that does not require repayment — is reaching new heights. Today on the show, Ken joins NACUBO’s Liz Clark to share the latest findings from the study, focusing on private institutions’ use of tuition discounting, and to discuss the challenges that come...
May 09, 2019•32 min•Season 3Ep. 9
This week on the show, Juan Martinez, Vice President, CFO, and Treasurer of the Knight Foundation, joins NACUBO senior director of federal affairs, Liz Clark, to talk about diversity in the asset management industry. Research supported by the Knight Foundation looks at trends in women and minority-owned asset management firms— and the results challenge long-held assumptions in the field and open the door to a more aggressive acceptance of diverse portfolio ownership. Links & Notes Learn more...
Apr 22, 2019•27 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has released their new International Graduate Admissions Survey study. On today’s show, Liz Clark sits down with Lauren Inouye and Hironao Okahana from CGS to talk about the study and the impacts of the political and economic impacts on international student enrollment in the United States. The biggest takeaway this year? The second general cycle of decline in enrollment in international graduate enrollment. But some of the reasons may surprise you. Join us toda...
Apr 01, 2019•21 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Colleen Campbell, Director, Postsecondary Education for Center for American Progress (CAP) joins NACUBO’s Bryan Dickson to talk about the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid proposed payment vehicle and the myStudentAid app. The initiative is designed to improve function and compliance for colleges and universities and provide convenience for students and families, but CAP has some consumer advocacy concerns. The new program will allow students to receive their federal student aid doll...
Mar 08, 2019•22 min•Season 3Ep. 6
For over 40 years, NACUBO has conducted a study on institutional endowments designed to answer key questions in how these financial tools are used. Over the years, this has become the largest study of its kind, offering a comprehensive set of data for policy makers, parents, students, and the broader community in how their institutions are using endowed funds. This week, NACUBO’s Director of Research and Policy Analysis, Ken Redd, and Senior Director for Federal Affairs, Liz Clark, report findin...
Feb 01, 2019•33 min•Season 3Ep. 5
The recent government shutdown had a significant impact on our nation's research institutions. Jennifer Poulakidas of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities joins Megan Schneider to discuss the broader implications of the shutdown on research and higher education.
Jan 30, 2019•19 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Peter Smith has been an institution in global higher education issues for the better part of 50 years. In his latest book, Free Range Learning in the Digital Age: The Emerging Revolution in College, Career, and Education , Dr. Smith uses evidence across the education ecosystem to document the unimaginable transformation occurring that challenges some of the common mythology in our field. For Smith, this book is about the end of knowledge discrimination, that education is often judged not on what...
Oct 15, 2018•33 min•Season 3Ep. 3
NACUBO assistant director of research and policy analysis Lindsay Wayt joins us today to share the latest results from the NACUBO 2017 Tuition Discounting Study, measuring the trends and strategies employed around tuition discounting across our member institutions. This week on NACUBO In Brief, Lindsay offers valuable background on the methodology underlying the report, along with some surprising trends that might impact your own institutions and your decisions around tuition discounting....
Apr 30, 2018•32 min•Season 3Ep. 2
NACUBO assistant directors of research and policy analysis Lesley McBain and Lindsay Wayt join us today to share new NACUBO research, a new paper in the NACUBO Perspectives Series, addressing the relationship between tuition discounting and access and affordability for underrepresented minority students. This paper examines whether increasing tuition discount rates between 2011 and 2015 was associated with an increase in the enrollment of underrepresented minority students. Findings indicate tha...
Feb 02, 2018•19 min•Season 3Ep. 1
For over 40 years, NACUBO has conducted a study on institutional endowments designed to answer key questions in how these financial tools are used. Over the years, this has become the largest study of its kind, offering a comprehensive set of data for policy-makers, parents, students, and the broader community in how their institutions are using endowed funds. This week, NACUBO’s senior director of research and policy analysis, Ken Redd, joins us to report findings in the 2017 report. If you rem...
Jan 25, 2018•32 min•Season 2Ep. 12
The Republican party’s framework for tax reform appears to be moving quickly — and rather quietly — toward a bill. The framework itself is quite high-level at this point, but there are a few key areas that will absolutely impact higher ed institutions. According to Liz Clark, NACUBO’s director of federal affairs, more detail is likely coming which should clear up some of the vagaries in the framework as it exists today, but that detail will likely come with a very short window for analysis befor...
Oct 06, 2017•22 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Consumers may have heard about Net Neutrality in recent weeks as Internet companies have made their positions clear across our favorite websites. But do you know how the fight for a fair and open Internet is poised to impact higher ed? Megan Schneider, Assistant Director of Federal Affairs for NACUBO, and Jarret Cummings, Director of Policy and Government Relations for EDUCAUSE, join us today to highlight the current policy and technology landscape surrounding Net Neutrality and the actions each...
Jul 24, 2017•28 min•Season 2Ep. 10
NACUBO assistant directors of research and policy analysis Lesley McBain and Lindsay Wayt join us today to share the latest results from the NACUBO 2016 Tuition Discounting Study , measuring the trends and strategies employed around tuition discounting across our member institutions. This week on NACUBO In Brief, Lesley and Lindsay offer valuable background on the report, and share their unique insights on the state of discounting as custodians of this report....
May 15, 2017•13 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Shared Services encompasses the web of possible partnerships between departments, divisions, and even across institutions that share resources to improve efficiency and decrease costs, and relieve pressure on tuition. For a small institution, streamlining processes and finding internal efficiencies is no longer enough. Forming shared services partnerships is a critical path to financial success according to our guest today. This week on NACUBO In Brief, Augsburg College Chief Financial Officer B...
Mar 07, 2017•20 min•Season 2Ep. 8
It’s early days in the new administration, but lawmakers have been all too public about their interests in legislation that could dramatically impact charitable giving. What will that mean to endowments, scholarships, and academic service? This week on NACUBO In Brief, Dickinson College’s Dr. Brontè Jones and NACUBO Federal Affairs Director Liz Clark set the stage for what is sure to be a rigorous debate in Washington, and how the potential outcome may be cause for concern at your institution....
Feb 21, 2017•17 min•Season 2Ep. 7
A Climate Action Plan documents an institution’s greenhouse gas emissions and the plans they have to reduce them. In 2006, today’s guest helped launch the effort to create a Climate Action Plan for University of Washington, a project that would ultimately take over three years, cataloging the massively complex infrastructure that emits greenhouse gasses across the institution. This week on NACUBO In Brief, energy and climate policy analyst Roel Hammerschlag joins us to share the experience of cr...
Feb 07, 2017•24 min•Season 2Ep. 6
For over 40 years, NACUBO has conducted a study on institutional endowments designed to answer key questions in how these financial tools are used. Over the years, this has become the largest study of its kind, offering a comprehensive set of data for policy makers, parents, students, and the broader community in how their institutions are using endowed funds. This week, NACUBO’s Director of Research and Policy Analysis, Ken Redd, joins us to report findings in the 2016 report. If you remember K...
Jan 31, 2017•26 min•Season 2Ep. 5
