Mission and Margin

Daniel Diermeier is chancellor of Vanderbilt University and formerly the provost of the University of Chicago. He is the author five books, most recently of Reputation Analytics, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Brett Sweet is vice chancellor for finance and information technology and chief financial officer of Vanderbilt University. He formerly was the dean for administration and finance at Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

• Preface1. No Margin—No Mission2. The Little Red Schoolhouse: Running a College3. The Power of Financial Analysis: Scholarships and Fundraising4. Buildings and How to Maintain Them: Depreciation5. Follow the Cash6. Operational Space Planning7. The Economics of Research8. Debt, Capital Markets, and Ratings9. From College to University10. But What About Parking?11. Growing as a UniversityAcknowledgmentsAppendix A: A Brief History of Higher Education in the United States, 1600s to PresentAppendix B: Competing Theories for Rising College Tuition: Baumol’s Cost Disease and Bowen’s Four LawsAppendix C: Parkinson’s Law and Constraining Administrative Growth at UniversitiesAppendix D: Evolution of Endowment Spending Rules and RegulationsAppendix E: A Brief History of Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Rate Evolution in the United StatesAppendix F: Debt Management and Bond ComplianceAppendix G: How Are PhDs Funded?Appendix H: A Brief History of R&D Funding in the United States and Technology Transfer at Universities (the Bayh-Dole Act)Appendix I: Higher Education “Classics”GlossaryNotesIndex

“Mission and Margin [provides] a practical financial guide for academic leaders who are new to an administrative role in higher education, focusing on how to make financially astute economic trade-offs and decisions even in the face of external uncertainty.”