College Presidents Grapple with Budget Woes - Valerie Taylor, Wheaton College

Lane Community College President Mary Spilde said she was surprised recently to learn a survey of nearly 1,000 college presidents found that most of them believe financial crises facing their campuses are just bumps in the road. Spilde is not wearing the same “rose-colored glasses,” she said in a recent webinar hosted by Inside Higher Ed that took place in conjunction with the release of its survey of 841 college presidents across the nation. The survey found that seven in 10 presidents said their institutions would face budget shortfalls this year – “but fewer than a third said they expected to take the sort of strong actions – cutting administrative positions, freezing salaries, changing faculty roles or teaching loads – that would suggest deep concern, let alone panic, about their institutions’ financial futures.” http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/13037