NACUBO In Brief

Managing university infrastructure is a critical responsibility for those in the role of CBO, but one shared by many groups across the institution. But what happens when you realize that infrastructure begins to lag the demands of the academy?

This week, University of Washington Associate Vice President Ruth Johnston joins us to introduce TAP — Transforming Administration Program — a program designed to look inside and across the institution to identify and execute the projects designed to improve service delivery, enhance service to the campus, reduce waste, and reduce costs. The TAP team has worked hard to unify the institution's stakeholders and increase communication and transparency as a result. If you're looking for a model for improving service delivery across your campus, join us this week for a welcome blueprint for transformation!

Lawmakers are headed home for their holiday recess, but before they turned out the lights, they managed to pass the 2016 federal budget. This week on NACUBO In Brief, NACUBO Federal Affairs Director Liz Clark joins us to walk through the major changes that will directly impact business officers and institutions across the country. From federal student aid changes, funding for important programs and grants, and some surprising increases we didn't expect, Liz helps us make sense of the changes we'll all be addressing soon!

Dr. Audrey Bilger serves as professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College. This summer, she authored "It's Not Us versus Them," published in Business Officer magazine, in which she outlines the gap between faculty and administration in her attempt to answer a simple central question: How do faculty members think about the financial situation of our institutions?

It turns out, as Dr. Bilger discovered, faculty don't think much about institutional finance. This week on NACUBO In Brief, she makes the case for faculty to embrace institutional reality, to learn more about their place as educators beyond their departments, and get involved in discussions that will move their institutions forward sustainably.

This is a wide-ranging conversation about the economic models that serve higher education, about taking back the dialog in the media, and about our shared role as advocates of higher education as a public good. Listen in!

Two years ago, the NACUBO board authorized the Economic Models Project in an effort to address the issues facing higher education business models. Higher education continues to suffer in the strategic communications conversation in the media. From cost of education to endowment and fundraising, state participation to ever-evolving pedagogies and inflating program rosters, critics offer an unbalanced perspective on the value proposition offered by our institutions in the eyes of our shared constituencies.

Today on NACUBO In Brief, NACUBO's Bob Shea and Jackie Askin join us to introduce us to the Economic Models Project, and give us clear picture of why NACUBO has chosen take a leadership role in this initiative to bring leaders and stakeholders together with the right data to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our institutions.

The last time FASB's reporting model changed for higher education and other non-profits was back in the 1990's. In the last 20 years however, much has changed in our industry. With those changes comes the next chapter in how we handle asset class restrictions, operating measurement, expense reporting and so much more.

Today on NACUBO In Brief, NACUBO's own director of accounting policy, Sue Menditto, joins us to provide background on the changes, and outline what CBOs need to know about the proposal to will impact you and you're institutional reporting.

Business officers who want to stay current with the changing payments market and payments security standards need a plan for how to get merchants and business centers up to date with the latest payment methods and security standards.

The payments industry in the United States is migrating to EMV chip technology, replacing the magnetic-stripe bank cards and point-of-sale (POS) terminals that have been in use for decades. EMV-compliant chip cards offer better security for card-present transactions by making every transaction unique. In addition, chip cards are more difficult to counterfeit or copy.

Hear an expert discuss alternatives and how to avoid increased financial risk and exposure while preparing to meet the needs of your students now and in the future.

Universities are continually looking for ways to improve processes and reduce costs. Today, Lauralea Edwards of Washington State University joins us to share her experience helping to transform the institution by instituting change her constituents buy into. She uncovers the major obstacles they've addressed, from transitioning away from paper, to developing new technological systems that departments embrace. And the major insight that started it all? The epiphany that her department should serve as vanguards to support faculty in their work delivering quality service to students.

The Department of Education has defined new rules around cash management at colleges and universities, some developed as a result of concerns around agreements that a number of schools have with institutions that provide accounts to students and how they relate to disbursement of federal financial aid. Today on NACUBO In Brief, Anne Gross, NACUBO VP of regulatory affairs, and Joan Piscitello, treasurer at Iowa State University share their insights and experiences in working with financial institutions and the development of new rules that impact them.