Is Institutional Spending and Affordability Putting U.S. Higher Ed in Danger? A New ACTA Report Discussion

Changing Higher Ed

Podcast Summary

Dr. Drumm McNaughton interviews Dr. Michael B. Poliakoff, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), and Dr. Armand Alacbay, ACTA’s vice president of trustee and government affairs, about the organization’s new report, “The Cost of Excess,” which analyzes the reasons and impacts behind the continual rising cost of higher education.

Podcast Highlights

• Higher education trustees need to ask probing questions and request meaningful data to help institutions make good decisions that are central to their mission of graduating students.
• For example, ACTA’s report found no statistical correlation between student services and improved graduation rates. This is important because institutions spent $112 billion in this student services alone during the timeframe studied.
• The report also found that the percent of increased instructional spending at public institutions was twice as effective in improving graduation rates as increasing administrative spending.

To read the full show notes, visit https://changinghighered.com

Resources

Dr. Drumm McNaughton does strategic planning and change management for higher ed institutions. To find out more about his services and read other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website, https://changinghighered.com/.

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