By Melissa Fuesting and Charlotte Etier | May 2024 Introduction Federal student aid first began in the 1940s with the passage of the GI Bill, and was expanded in the 1950s with the creation of the first federal student loan program.[1],[2] In 1965, Congress passed the Higher Education Act which created the first Basic Educational […]
By Jennifer Schneider and Jacqueline Bichsel | April 2024 Introduction Higher education leaders understand, and most are committed to, promoting equitable work opportunities and pay for all employees, cultivating inclusive learning and working communities, and building a higher ed workforce that reflects the community it serves. The call for a faculty that better represents the […]
By Melissa Fuesting | November 2023 Introduction Higher ed administrators are key in shaping their institution’s priorities and culture, and thus have immense impact both on those who work for colleges and universities and the students whom these institutions serve. From a practical perspective, organizations with greater gender and racial/ethnic diversity in top management roles […]
By Jacqueline Bichsel, Melissa Fuesting, Diana Tubbs, and Jennifer Schneider | September 2023 Introduction The CUPA-HR 2023 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey (ERS) was conducted nearly one year after the pilot survey in 2022.[1] The pilot was created to better understand the factors underlying the retention crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic — […]
By Melissa Fuesting | April 2023 Introduction Each year, the higher ed admissions workforce recruits, selects, and converts prospective students into a strong incoming class. As institutions become more reliant on tuition dollars and prepare for the looming enrollment cliff, the value of admissions employees’ specialized skillset will likely continue to grow. Without strong enrollments, […]
By Jennifer Schneider and Diana Tubbs | April 2023 Introduction In January 2023, CUPA-HR asked higher ed institutions for information about the employment of faculty and staff who live and work out of state (defined as a state different from where their institution’s primary campus is located). A total of 331 institutions from almost every state in the […]
By Melissa Fuesting and Jennifer Schneider | January 2023 Introduction Higher ed continues to face a retention crisis. Turnover in any role can impact an institution due to loss of talent, institutional knowledge, and team or interdepartmental rapport. However, turnover in a supervisor role has more far-reaching implications. Supervisor turnover also impacts direct reports, who […]
By Jacqueline Bichsel, Melissa Fuesting, Jennifer Schneider, and Diana Tubbs | July 2022 Introduction The CUPA-HR Higher Education Employee Retention Survey was piloted in May 2022.[1] The survey was created to better understand the proportion of the higher ed workforce that is at risk for leaving their current jobs, why these employees are considering leaving, […]
By Sarah Nadel-Hawthorne, Anthony Schmidt, and Jacqueline Bichsel | April 2022 Introduction Development, fundraising, and alumni relations offices have been in existence since 1821, when the first alumni association was founded at Williams College, followed by the first alumni fund, which originated at Brown University in 1823.[1] Since then, institutions all over the world have […]
By Anthony Schmidt | February 2022 Introduction Minority-serving institutions (MSIs) occupy a unique space within the higher ed landscape. They are federally-recognized institutions that serve students of color, many of whom are first-generation and low-income. Therefore, MSIs play an important role in ensuring students from underrepresented races and ethnicities receive a quality education. MSIs enroll […]
By Melissa Fuesting, Jacqueline Bichsel, and Anthony Schmidt | January 2022 Introduction At most higher education institutions, the two most senior positions are the president and provost. Advancement to these roles most often follows a straightforward path. More than one-third (34%) of presidents were in a provost or vice provost role immediately prior to becoming […]
By Jacqueline Bichsel, Melissa Fuesting, and Mark McCormack | November 2021 Introduction During the pandemic, much of higher ed has been faced with two distinct challenges: 1) setting up remote work environments for employees during quarantine, and 2) navigating a return to campus for many employees after quarantine. These challenges have posed varying degrees of […]
