Survey of College Finances Finds Good Stewardship, but Some Possible Red Flags

Colleges are playing by the rules in their financial affairs and are generally being good stewards of their resources, concludes a new report by two higher-education associations that reviewed the financial data nearly 150 institutions recently submitted to the Internal Revenue Service.

Full text article by Eric Kelderman is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/17/09.

Paychecks Top More Than $1-Million for 23 Private-College Presidents

Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the highest-paid private-college leader in this year's survey, joins 22 other private-college presidents with compensation above $1-million, according to an annual survey of the compensation packages of private-college chiefs (a companion survey of public-college presidents will be released in January). A total of 110 presidents of the 419 private colleges included in the analysis reported total compensation of more than $500,000.

Full-text post by Emma L. Carew and Paul Fain is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/1/09.

Presidents Favor Reining In Athletics Costs but Feel Powerless to Effect Change

A majority of college presidents at the nation's largest athletics programs favor sweeping change to contain the escalating costs associated with big-time college sports, but are hard-pressed to identify an entity that can achieve it. Those are among the key findings of a new report on the financing of major-college athletics programs that was issued on Monday by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. The report was based on a survey of 95 college presidents in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's most competitive grouping and was conducted last spring. The report also includes comments based on interviews with nearly a quarter of the campus leaders surveyed.

Full-text post by Libby Sander is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/26/09.

Ranking Your Alma Mater On How Much You Make

Americans are suckers for a good ranking. Give people a copy of the annual U.S. News & World Report on the country's best colleges and you'll have them gloating, sulking and arguing over the results for hours. But for all the college rankings floating around, there's still one area students and parents can't find much concrete info about: how much an undergraduate degree will pay off.

Full text article by Rebecca Kaplan is available via Time, 8.17.09.