Liberal Arts Colleges

David W. Breneman

doi:10.5771/9780815717140

Summary

Private liberal arts colleges provide high-quality undergraduate education, but their survival is in doubt. Some see the liberal arts as increasingly irrelevant in a world marked by growing demand for technical training. Others wonder how private colleges, many with few students and high tuitions, can compete successfully against heavily subsidized public colleges and universities.

David Breneman, an economist and former college president, explores these and many other educational and economic issues in this book, a detailed analysis of more than 200 liberal arts colleges. Breneman describes the recent financial and curricular history of liberal arts colleges. He explains how they have survived and how many have prospered despite severe competitive pressures. He shows how both outsiders and college administrators themselves misunderstand the role and effects of unfunded student aid (tuition discounting) and how this misunderstanding leads to questionable policies. He shows why the universe of liberal arts collegeswhich includes such diverse members as women's colleges, black colleges, religiously affiliated colleges, and highly selective collegeshave had diverse experiences and confront different futures.

Breneman includes sketches of twelve colleges that provide insight into both the shared and distinctive concerns of a varied but representative set of liberal arts colleges. He weaves these specific cases into a concluding chapter on the prospects for liberal arts colleges.

This book is designed to appeal to college administrators, trustees, faculty, students, alumni, policymakers, and anyone who cares about quality higher education.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2010
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-1061-5
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-1714-0
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 184
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
1. Why Study Private Liberal Arts Colleges? No access
2. Defining Liberal Arts Colleges No access
3. Economic Issues Facing Liberal Arts Colleges No access
4. Organization of the Book No access
1. The 1950s and 1960s—Golden Years? No access
2. The 1970s—New Problems, New Policies No access
3. The 1980s—A Decade of Surprises No access
1. A Microeconomic Theory of the Private College No access
2. Applications, Acceptances, and Enrollments No access
3. Net Tuition Revenue and Unfunded Student Aid No access
4. Net Tutition Revenue and Expenditures No access
1. Change during Three Decades No access
2. Change during the Past Decade No access
3. Conclusion No access
1. The Twelve Colleges No access
2. Site-Visit Findings No access
1. Prospects for Twelve Colleges No access
2. Problems That Lie Ahead No access
3. Recommendations No access
4. Conclusion No access
1. A. The 212 Colleges in the Study No access
2. B. Colleges Excluded and Description of Williams College Data File No access
3. C. A Microeconomic Model No access
4. D. Categories of Revenue and Expenditure No access
5. E. Administrators Interviewed No access
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2. B No access
3. C No access
4. D No access
5. E No access
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11. K No access
12. L No access
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24. Y No access