Business issues

Cash-strapped colleges are freezing faculty hires, but the exceptions reveal institutions' highest priorities in increasingly desperate times.

As a state university mulls saving a private liberal arts college by taking on its debt, students and faculty hope it can retain unique, arts-focused identity that's decidedly "quirky."

In the realm of international student recruiting, “A lot of agents will just send out blanket e-mails to universities saying, ‘Oh, I would like to be your representative,’ ” says Sabine Klahr, director of international programs at Boise State University. “We don’t answer those e-mails typically."

“There are no standards at this point,” Klahr explains. “You could work with agents throughout the world who are not" -- she pauses, searching for the right word -- "they are not reputable business people, essentially. How do you know that you can trust them?”

A blogger exposes an elaborate effort by a private company to create a captive market of students on the popular social networking site.

Leaders in Tennessee and Maine have taken differing approaches to transforming university systems, highlighting the importance of building alliances early in the process.

With budgets tightening, public universities may be inclined to recruit more out-of-state students for increased revenue.

Student group says Hampshire is the first U.S. college to divest on behalf of Palestinians; college says its decision to transfer money from one fund to another was not about the Middle East.

As California leaders end impasse, plan to close huge gap cuts hundreds of millions in college operating support, but spares student aid and funds community college enrollment growth.

In a move that could prove a harbinger of things to come, a New York agency now contends that a distance education course is subject to state sales tax.

U. of Toledo professors object as administrators negotiate plan for for-profit company to provide courses in exchange for a share of tuition revenue.