Section 8: Institutional Revenues

Like the Institutional Enrollments section, the questions in this section allow an institution to determine whether consensus exists within and among the respondent groups about revenues over the last three years, and to offer projections about future revenues and their impact on the institution. Research at NCHEMS suggests that individuals may be more sensitive to an institution's financial condition than to its enrollment experiences.

What is our survey data telling us?

A healthy level of consensus exists among Columbia members about the College's revenues; however, the level of consensus is not as strong as the one observed with the enrollment-related questions. According to NCHEMS, the ideal response pattern is for all the respondents in each group to select the same reply. Nevertheless, the respondents are optimistic about the College's ability to withstand a temporary downturn in total revenues and agree that the administration could act now to prevent the revenues from declining in the next year. The level of optimism seen in Institutional Enrollments is repeated in this section.

The following comments from survey respondents illustrate the range of perspectives on the institutional issues discussed in this section:

In my perception the greatest problem for Columbia is that not enough is being done to build lasting financial resources through large donor contributions for endowments. The layer of bureaucratic positions-deans were intended to address this, but so far isn't being adequately utilized....

Data for this section

For further information, please contact: hwexler@colum.edu