Higher Ed’s Economic Challenges

The global economic downturn has had a profound impact on nearly all industries.  Higher education is no exception.  As students struggle to find affordable options for continuing their educations, institutions of higher education have found it increasingly difficult to conduct “business as usual” in the face of shrinking government funding, dwindling endowments, and increasing enrollments.  Below is a compilation of articles from across the nation that provide a glimpse into the new, harder reality facing higher education today.  I saved many of these links from Ray Schroeder’s blog, “Recession Realities in Higher Education” but have posted others that I’ve found in my own reading. Indexing them state by state allows you to see from these headlines and related articles that colleges and universities are facing an unprecedented and widespread challenge from the economic downturn.  Unfortunately, far too few of these articles portray thoughtful versus reactionary budgetary solutions.  Ideally, I’ll start to find a few examples of thoughtful decisions as this downturn in higher ed financing continues.