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Category: Funding and Finances

Classroom Economics (Part 2)

Yesterday, I introduced the equation X = aϒ/(b+c) as a way of setting overall teaching loads. Let’s now use this to understand how funding parameters drive overall teaching loads. Assume the following starting parameters:       Where a credit hour = 1 student in 1 class for 1 semester. Here’s the most obvious way it works.  Let’s say the government decides to increase funding by 10%, from $600 to $660 (which would be huge – a far larger move

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January 20, 2015 4 Comments

Classroom Economics (Part 1)

One of the things that continually astonishes me about universities is how few people who work within them actually understand how they are funded, and what the budget drivers really are.  So this week I’m going to walk y’all through a simplified model of how the system really works. Let’s start by stating what should be – but too often isn’t – the obvious: universities are paid to teach.  They are paid specific amounts to do specific pieces of research

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January 19, 2015 5 Comments

Adult Discussions About Research Policy

Over the winter break, the Toronto Star published an editorial on research funding that deserves to be taken out to the woodshed and clobbered. The editorial comes in two parts. The first is a reflection on whether or not the Harper government is a “caveman” or just “incompetent” when it comes to science. I suppose it’s progress that the Star gives two options, but frankly the Harper record on science isn’t hard to decode: The Conservatives like “Big Science” and have

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January 6, 2015 1 Comment

Variation in Tuition in the United States

One of the things foreigners always get wrong about the American higher education system is tuition fees.  The external perception of tuition is driven by what’s happening at the famous private institutions, mainly in the country’s northeast.  But that’s not even close to being the whole story. Figure 1: Tuition by Type of Institution, United States, 2014-15               It is true that tuition at private non-profits is pretty high – $31,231, on average; though it

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November 21, 2014 1 Comment

An Update from Australia

Back in our spring (their fall), the Government of Australia announced a new university funding policy, which consisted of: Cutting per-student public funding by about 20%; but, Subsequently allowing funding to rise along with enrolments (this is known in Australia as “demand-driven funding”); Simultaneously de-regulating all tuition; and, Allowing the interest rate on student loans to rise from equal to inflation to equal to the government’s 10-year bond rate (i.e. actually placing a real interest rate on the loan). Understandably, students

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November 12, 2014 No 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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