About U.S. Higher Education

By the numbers
Costs: Up, Up & Away
Finances: the rich get richer
Success: getting our money's worth
Management & Governance

Management & Governance: Taking Responsibility

• A 2006 survey found that 44 percent of all Americans believe waste and mismanagement are “very important” factors in driving up higher education costs (an additional 37 percent believed they were “somewhat important”). 

        Source:  National Center for Public Policy and Research

• In a late 2006/early 2007 survey by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, more than one-third of college and university CFOs said expenditure/cost management was either barely “on the radar” screen or not a priority at their institutions. The same survey indicated that 58 percent of the CFOs did not “present expenditures per student” to their governing boards during the 2006 fiscal year.

        Source:  Association of Governing Boards

• A 2005 survey of college and university trustees, by the Chronicle of Higher Education, found that fewer than 15 percent of trustees considered themselves "very well prepared" for what they faced when they joined the board. Four in 10 described themselves as "slightly" or "not at all" prepared.
   42.4 percent of college and university trustees said they spent less than five hours per month on board matters.
  76.5 percent of college and university trustees felt the board should be held more accountable for their students’ educational outcomes.
  Source:  Chronicle of Higher Education