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Category: Funding and Finances

Oil and Universities

As the price of oil continues to plummet, just a few thoughts on the financial implications for universities. In provinces that are oil importers, the effect is likely net positive, slightly.  Economic growth should be a little bit above trend, inflation will fall a bit, and those factors will make it easier for provincial governments to balance budgets this year, without turning to cuts. In provinces that are exporters, an oil price drop will likely affect the budget in two

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August 25, 2015 No Comments

Summer Updates from Abroad (3): An Intriguing American Student Aid Debate

Why do we give people student loans and grants?  Is it to help them get knowledge, or just credentials?  That question is subject to much debate in Washington right now.  At issue is whether student assistance helps or hinders innovation in higher education; at stake are potentially billions of dollars in public funding. Let’s rewind a bit here: student aid in the US is governed by something that goes by the name of “Title IV” (meaning, essentially, chapter IV of

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August 12, 2015 No Comments

Universities: It’s Not All About You

I just finished reading quite a good little book, Universities and Regional Development, edited by (among others) OISE’s Glen Jones.  Analytically, it’s useful for a couple of reasons: first, it gets beyond universities as single-entity black boxes when it comes to engaging with external stakeholders; also, it does a good job of emphasizing history and path-dependence as under-analyzed variables in explaining change (or lack thereof) in higher education. One thing that struck me, however, was the tone of some of

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June 11, 2015 2 Comments

Random Crazy Thoughts About Funding Formulas

A few days ago, I attended a meeting of an advisory group on the review of the Ontario University Funding Formula. I can’t of course tell you what went on inside the meeting, but I thought I would share with you some of the (creative? crazy?) ideas that I had while inside them. One issue which has popped up both in Ontario and in some meetings I had in DC last week, was the problems created by having money automatically

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June 5, 2015 2 Comments

University Endowments in a Global Context

Every once in awhile, when politicians of a certain mindset get going on the subject of how much money is being wasted in higher education, they fall back on a line about “why can’t universities be more self-sufficient”, or better yet, “why can’t they just fundraise more, like American universities do”? Easier said than done. Here are the top ten Canadian universities, by endowment. Top ten Canadian Universities by Endowment (in C$ Billion) So you’ve got Toronto at about $2

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June 4, 2015 3 Comments

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One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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