• Volume 9 of SCUP's Trends in Higher Education has just been published and can be downloaded here by SCUP members, or purchased by others for $125.
• Volume 8 of SCUP's Trends in Higher Education is now available to the public. Download volume 8 here (PDF).

Here's a sample of one of the many observations and thoughts available now to the public from Volume 8, by Phllis T.H. Grummon, SCUP's director of education and planning. Note that some links may have expired.

Observation

The cost of delivering higher education in the Us rose at the smallest rate in the history of the higher education Price index (hePi), less than one percent. the drop was due almost exclusively to a drop in the cost of utilities. The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 16, 2010, www.chronicle.com/article/Higher-Education-Price-Index/124456

• The median total health-care premium cost rose 7 percent in 2010, nearly double the costs of the year before.College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), September 9, 2010, www.cupahr.org/newsroom/news_template.aspx?id=6874
• Businesses in the US have continued to shift the costs of health care premiums to workers, who now pay 30 percent of the cost for a family plan.The Wall Street Journal, September 3, 2010, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703431604575467902840...
• For the second year in a row, there was no cost of living increase in Social Security benefits.The Washington Post, October 21, 2011, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/20/AR20101020...

Our Thoughts

The ability of institutions to recruit faculty members, particularly those with private sector employment options, will continue to erode. not only are health care premiums increasing, pension and retirement plans are facing additional uncertainty.

• States reported a $477 billion decline in revenues for “insurance trust funds,” primarily pension fund investments, which will drive state contributions up considerably in future years.The New York Times, January 5, 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/us/06states.html
• A majority of all workers at public colleges and a third of full-time faculty members are enrolled in defined-benefit pension plans, while private colleges have largely embraced defined-contribution plans, that spread costs.The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 29, 2010, www.chronicle.com/article/As-Pension-Costs-Rise-Public/124150
• The University of California raised the minimum retirement age to 55 and the age at which employees can receive maximum pension benefits to 65, in spite of warnings about its effects on faculty recruitment and retention.The Sacramento Bee, October 27, 2010, www.sacbee.com/2010/10/