NACUBO In Brief

For over 40 years, NACUBO has conducted a study on institutional endowments designed to answer key questions in how these financial tools are used. Over the years, this has become the largest study of its kind, offering a comprehensive set of data for policy makers, parents, students, and the broader community in how their institutions are using endowed funds.

This week, NACUBO's Senior Director of Research and Policy Analysis, Ken Redd, joins Vice President for Policy and Research, Liz Clark, to report findings in the most recent report. There are some real high points in study results this year but they come with qualifications to be sure. And while we have a clearer view of how colleges are using their endowment funds, the current political landscape, taxes and tariffs, and climate change are all driving a mood of uncertainty in financial leaders across survey participants.

• NACUBO-TIAA Study of Endowments

The financial environment for families entering higher education is more complex than ever. As costs increase across the higher education landscape, it's increasingly important for institutions to take responsibility to both make a sound case for the long-term economic value of higher education and to help families understand how to pay for their educational experience and reduce risk.

On this episode, Wittenberg University Director of Student Financial Services, Doug Schantz, joins NACUBO's Bryan Dickson to discuss the shared responsibility of financial literacy education and the resources available to institutions looking to help families stay informed.

How does the physical footprint of a college campus evolve while its leaders balance the costs of new technologies, interest rates, construction, real estate, and deferred maintenance? The mechanical complexities of this ecosystem are only the first part of the conversation; what happens when you add the emotional ties your constituencies may have to the outcomes of your decisions?

This week on the show, we have two guests well-positioned to help us understand this campus balancing act. Liz Clark, NACUBO's VP for Policy and Research, sits down with Jed Shivers from the University of North Dakota and Steve Stabile from the New School in New York City. Together, they explore their approaches to some of the more challenging decisions they're making on their campuses today.

Sustainability efforts on campus are no longer limited to environmental sustainability. Diversity and inclusion, social justice, and economic impact — among others — are all efforts requiring sustainability thinking. Bringing leadership together with faculty and student constituencies to build a governance structure to institutionalize these efforts is key.

In this episode, New Mexico State University Strategic Chief Financial Officer Ruth Johnston joins NACUBO Assistant Director for Advocacy and Student Financial Services Bryan Dickson. Together, they explore Johnston's career as a strategic leader and how her strategic planning efforts have helped shape the way universities adapt to the changing climate, in all its contexts.

George Washington University Associate Vice President & University Controller Sharon Heinle sits down with NACUBO's senior director of accounting policy Sue Menditto to discuss the need to translate financial information for non-financial people effectively. The Controller's Office at GW is the waystation for a wide variety of financial information from tax through development and research; ensuring that leadership departments and stakeholders across campus each have current and accurate data — and that they understand it — is a crucial responsibility.

Tom Simard is Deputy Commissioner for Finance and Administration at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and he joins NACUBO's Bryan Dickson, assistant director for advocacy and student financial services. Massachusetts is stepping up to face the question of institutional solvency with a new metric that aims to better understand the nature of previous closures in the state, and provide a diagnostic into potential future challenges facing the state's institutions.

What is the regulatory role for the state commissioners? How does the department help stakeholders to understand the financial standing of institutions who may be facing financial challenges without being a burden on others? Simard paints a picture of a process designed to support the Massachusetts higher education landscape, and may even serve as a model for other states, too.

Joanna Gramma is a senior consultant at Vantage Technology Consulting Group and she joins NACUBO's Megan Schneider, senior director of government affairs, to take on a subject at the intersection of technology and higher education: centralizing a new set of higher education student and institution data at the federal level. Many institutions already make this sort of data public on their own websites; but advocates for a new system argue that a centralized data source would offer a useful tool for parents and students to evaluate all of their different educational options.

However, if such a potentially large set of centralized data were collected, does the federal government have both the IT infrastructure and regulatory framework necessary to protect such information? Gramma helps us to understand the current information security landscape and points out some potential areas for further research whether you're an IT specialist, administrator, or parent.

Syracuse University SVP and CFO Amir Rahnamay-Azar knows a thing or two about steam. His university's steam generator has been providing power and more for decades across the university. When it came time for a major retrofit, it came time to revisit facilities that were core to the operation of the institution. As he says, "I need steam, not a steam generator."

So they turned to a Public-Private Partnership, a relationship that allows the university to address their power generation requirements and work with a private organization to manage the infrastructure. Today on NACUBO In Brief, Rahnamay-Azar joins NACUBO's Megan Schneider to share the journey toward the PPP at Syracuse.

This week on NACUBO In Brief, we bring you part four of our four-part series dissecting one of higher education's biggest challenges: financial modeling and forecasting in the face of great uncertainty.

In our last episode, we presented sophisticated applications of scenario planning that can help institutions take their budgeting and forecasting models to the next level. In our final episode, our guests offer a survey of their experience working with campuses that have experience in using these more advanced analytical tools.

NACUBO's senior director of accounting policy Sue Menditto invites two experts in for the conversation; Larry Goldstein, President of Campus Strategies and author of College and University Budgeting, and Brett Matteo, managing director of The PFM Group and president of Synario software (formerly known as Whitebirch).

This week on NACUBO In Brief, we bring you part three of our four-part series dissecting one of higher education's biggest challenges: financial modeling and forecasting in the face of great uncertainty.

In our last episode, we discussed how institutions can build a forecasting and scenario planning process that is grounded in budgeting. This week, we take scenario planning to the next level with examples of sophisticated applications that can help institutions see around corners.

NACUBO's senior director of accounting policy Sue Menditto invites two experts in for the conversation; Larry Goldstein, President of Campus Strategies and author of College and University Budgeting, and Brett Matteo, managing director of The PFM Group and president of Synario software (formerly known as Whitebirch).