Higher Education Institutional Crisis and Solutions

Introduction
Higher education continues to be a significant aspect within an economy with professions necessitating individuals with such educational attainments. However, institutions of higher education have continued to experience several challenges, including deteriorating student enrollments, increasing student debt across the United States, and also concerning student completion rates for the different educational programs. The Higher Education sector in the United States is experiencing major challenges. California State University, Los Angeles, is the leading all-inclusive public university that is situated at the heart of Los Angeles and is committed to engagement, service, and the public good. It is one of the renowned higher education institutions not only in Los Angeles but also in the state of California as a whole. The purpose of this report is to conduct extensive research to offer prospective solutions to an organizational problem being experienced at Cal State LA as a setting for higher education.
Vision, Mission, and Values
The mission of Cal State LA is to transform lives and cultivate flourishing communities across greater Los Angeles. The university purposes of nurturing and amplify the students' distinctive talents, diverse life experiences, and intellect, via engaged teaching, research, learning, scholarship, and public service that support their general success, well-being, and the greater good (California State University Los Angeles, 2020).
The vision statement for Cal State LA is to be internationally acknowledged as the leading comprehensive public university in greater Los Angeles. The organization is committed to delivering innovative and pioneering academic programs. These programs prepare students to be innovative leaders in both their civic and professional lives in addition to serving the public good via initiatives that facilitate the engagement of local, regional, and international communities in mutually beneficial affiliations (California State University Los Angeles, 2020).
The values of the university include the following:
1. Students First – Cal State LA places the academic achievement, career inclination, and welfare at the heart of everything that they do.
2. Pushing Boundaries – Cal State LA sets motivated and determined goals to challenge and inspire the organization, benefiting its role as the premier comprehensive public University of Los Angeles.
3. Engagement, Service and the Public Good – Cultivating significant, harmonious relationships that make a contribution to the public good
4. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – Nurturing diversity, anticipating cultural competence, and enthusiastically seeking standpoints an engagement from elements in the community to develop expectations that are equitable.
5. Student Engagement – Heartening students to take ownership of their campus experience and pursue prospects that promote inclusion, leadership, and a sense of belonging
6. Engaged Teaching and Learning – Cal State LA nurtures and magnifies the students' exceptional talents, different life experiences, and intelligence through engaged education, learning, studentship, research, and lively student life
7. Academic Distinction - Cal State LA nurtures and promotes academic distinction via innovation, academic exactitude and the search for lifelong learning
8. Community of Scholars – Cal State LA nurtures and promotes a community of scholars amongst faculty and students who are engaged in research, creative attainments and scholarship
9. A culture of Excellence – The organization heartens and anticipates all members to seek out academic, professional, and individual excellence
10. Transparent Collaborative Decision-Making – Cal State LA makes decisions that are based on evidence and informed by data and are cooperative and transparent
11. Mutual Respect – Cal State LA is dedicated to nurturing a setting that us supportive and accommodating where every individual dedicates to cultivating a culture for respecting everyone
12. Academic Freedom – Cal State LA promotes academic freedom and professional ethics (California State University Los Angeles, 2020).
Goals and Strategies
The goals and strategies of Cal State LA include the following:
1. Graduate students who are civic inclined and prepared for and dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good
2. Cultivate an accommodating and inclusive campus where students and members of staff and faculty as well as community as a whole are respected and nurtured
3. Generate a constructive, all-inclusive student experience with a clear and well-times path to a high quality degree
4. Provide undergraduate and graduate programs of high quality and invest in faculty who are distinctively dedicated to teaching a diverse student body (California State University Los Angeles, 2020).
Organizational Problem
One of the fundamental problems being faced by California State University, Los Angeles is financial limitations and constraints to facilitate student aid and also university business operations. Statistics indicate that several higher education organizations are experience major financial challenges, facing an increase of 8 percent in the 2017 school year. Furthermore, the declining state funding year after year for higher education universities and colleges has given rise to diminished critical services for students, placing major strain on these educational institutions (Wiley Education Services, 2020). In the present day, public universities and colleges in several states obtained most of their revenues from tuition instead of government funding. This demonstrates a wave of change within the higher education sector and a response to the decline in multi-year funding across states for both public institutions and colleges. Whereas, entities such as Cal State LA have taken measures of cutting their fiscal budgets or diminishing services, the decrease has come to an extent where the organizations no longer have the ability to curtail the deficit with budget cuts. The option left is to increase the university tuition rates which is also heightening the burden on students and also services.
Profound state cuts in funding for higher education in the course of the past decade have been a major contributing factor to fast-paced, significant rises in tuition and placed more of the costs of the university to students, which is consequently making it more difficult for them to register and graduate. In general, state funding for public universities that offer degrees for both two years and four years, in the educational year ending in 2018, was greater than $6.6 billion lesser than it was in 2008 prior to the financial recession. This has significantly impacted California State University, Los Angeles in regard to facilitating sufficient funding for its student base (Zeleza, 2020).
In the past number of years, the student enrollment figures have risen by 25 percent. At the start of the 2019 educational year, Cal State LA had approximately 22,649 full-time students. However, the company only had sufficient funding for only 8,005 full-time equivalent students. Taking this into consideration, the university would necessitate just about $30 million in funding in order to meet the prevailing needs and requirements of each of the students amounting to 28,000 (Chavez, 2019). Due to the lack of permanent funds from enrollment, Cal State LA does not have sufficient funds to employ sufficient tenure track facility, educational or academic counselors, student life specialists, and staff to support the organization's infrastructure. The adverse impact is that the company's plan is planned to impact just about 600 students from becoming enrolled in Cal State LA in the year 2020 (Chavez, 2019).
Students have indicated that these budget cuts from the state have adversely affected the university and also them as well. For instance, these budget cuts within the system have resulted in financial aid for students being slashed by half. Taking into consideration that there are no funds within the university systems, it implies that a number of department members and advisors were also fired. Consequently, the university is lacking student advisors and counselors that enable students to consult for classes they should take during a semester and, therefore, negatively impacting the educational progress of students (Unigo, 2020).
Environmental Influences affecting Organization and Contributing to the Problem
Covid-19 Pandemic
There are different environmental influences that are impacting the university and contributing to its financial strain. One of the environmental influences is the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. The spread of the virus across the nation has created significant disruption in all sectors. Notably, institutions of higher education across the United States are rushing to close extensive budget holes and this effect has been adverse to the extent that a number of universities have been enforced to the verge of collapse owing to the aspect that the outbreak of the coronavirus instigated financial losses that could surpass $100 million. Specifically, the universities are indicating that they are being substantially impacted because they have to reimburse money to the students for housing, food, as well as parking, subsequent to the closure of the campuses. The University of California indicated that it projects a loss of approximately $100 million, and that is with the assumption that the campuses will resume by fall (Fortune, 2020).
The Covid-19 pandemic threatens to completely transform higher education in the United States. At the present moment, it is challenging for the university to sign up for the forthcoming freshman class that enrolls in the fall. This is because people are unable to travel and make visitations to campuses and numerous international students are completely locked out of the United States. If the lockdown prevails, it implies that the university will be uncertain about the size of their classes for the different sources and also the amount of revenue they can generate from tuition. With the credit outlook of the higher education sector lowered negative, it implies that the university might also perceive a decline in the number of research grants and also agreements. Furthermore, there is the issue of declining demand from overseas students, who usually pay higher amounts of tuition (Lorin, 2020).
Poor Public Finance Model
Financial difficulties faced by state governments have transformed into diminished support for higher education. The system of financing higher education in the United States is outmoded. At the present moment, if the United States aspires to increase both the quality and magnitude of labor force credentials and degrees, it is imperative to transform its untenable and impervious finance model for higher education. The American model of higher education funding is shattered and unveils a significant disparity between how public higher education is paid and the prevailing economic and social necessities (Finney, 2014).
Even prior to the onset of the financial recession, state governments experience major difficulties in funding their systems of higher educations. These are problems that are progressively more apparent in the present day. These challenges include state structural budget deficits that have not been dealt with by leaders in the political setting, Medicaid amassing a massive share of state budgets and crowding out funding for higher education, in addition to financial strains on households for numerous goods and services surpassing growth in income. The impact of state structural budget deficits on higher education has been significantly detrimental, instigating budget cuts in official appropriations and usually in state programs for student financial aid. Taking into consideration that higher education is amongst the limited public services with the ability to create its own revenues, the top state officials usually consent to requests for tuition increases during periods of economic recession (Finney, 2014).
Individual Influences affecting Organization and Contributing to the Problem
University Admissions
On a yearly basis, several thousands more students who have met the required qualifications make applications to Cal State LA, surpassing the financial and space capacity that the university can offer. One of the major problems that are bound to negatively influence the existent problems is increasing tuition fees and altering admission standards. Imperatively, Cal State LA is intending to raise its student admission standards and reduce the Fall 2020 class. Consequently, this approach would diminish the incoming class for the fall by approximately 600 students. The downside to this approach is that it is limiting the company's ability to enroll more students and, therefore, having continued financial constraints (Hussain, 2019).
Solutions
There are a number of changes that Cal State LA ought to implement in order to overcome these financial problems. First of all, the university needs to guarantee that governance is adapted to satisfy the new oversight difficulties, with the college faculty playing a significantly greater role in generating an inventive educational institution. Secondly, the university needs to implement a fresher, more flexible model that takes into consideration modifications in how the university employs tuition, re-envision underutilized assets, reconsider the utilization of funds that are limited temporarily and seek out extra partners to generate new revenue streams. Furthermore, the university needs to set aside outdated strategies for student enrollment and replace them with newer financial aid analytical models that distinguish academic programs. Also, they need to emphasize student life and concentrate on results via a stronger career-counseling network that generates a longstanding relationship (Mitchell, 2018).
Reflection
In light of the work completed during this course, my thoughts and ideas on leadership have changed, as compared to when I started the course. Initially, my perspective of leadership encompassed the notion of impelling individuals to behave in a certain manner. Nonetheless, my present perspective is that leadership encompasses motivating a group of different individuals to behave and conduct themselves toward a mutual goal or objective. I believe that it refers to communicating with individuals in an endeavor to ensure that the goals are properly elucidated and achieved. Secondly, what I have learned about my leadership will be significantly assimilated into my professional and personal pursuits. Specifically, I have determined that I am a transformational leader. In this regard, my emphasis takes into account working in tandem with the different teams to pinpoint the necessitated change, form a vision to implement the change using inspiration and motivation, and implementing the change together with dedicated team members. I believe that leadership necessitates teamwork.
One of the key aspects that I have learned about my style of research and writing is that it takes a longer period than necessitated. During this process, I have ascertained different approaches to undertake to refine my research and writing. One of the ways to achieve this is by splitting the research task or undertaking it into different practicable sections. This makes the research process simpler. On top of this, my new strategy is also writing down the different ideas and concepts that come to mind. Usually, while doing research, it is common for ideas to pop up to mind randomly, and they can easily be forgotten. Therefore, having a pen and a book will ensure that such ideas are kept. I have also decided to seek consultation from a librarian frequently. I believe that librarians are specialists in planning a strategy for research and writing, seeking out and pinpointing information, and diminishing stress during the research process.
References
California State University Los Angeles. (2020). Strategic Plan. Retrieved from: http://www.calstatela.edu/strategicplan
Chavez, M. (2019). Cal State LA has proposed a plan to cut enrollment for incoming freshmen beginning Fall 2020. University Times. Retrieved from: https://csulauniversitytimes.com/operation-impaction/
Finney, J. E. (2014). Why the finance model for public higher education is broken and must be fixed. Public Policy Initiative 2(6).
Wiley Education Services. (2020). Top Challenges Facing U.S. Higher Education. Retrieved from: https://edservices.wiley.com/top-higher-education-challenges/
Unigo. (2020). California State University – Los Angeles: What do you consider the worst thing about your school? Why? Retrieved from: https://www.unigo.com/colleges/california-state-university-los-angeles/q-and-a/what-do-you-consider-the-worst-thing-about-your-school-why-673/1
Mitchell, B. C. (February 22, 2018). America's colleges and universities have a serious revenue problem. Hechinger Report. Retrieved from: https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-americas-colleges-universities-serious-revenue-problem/
Hussain, S. (February 25, 2019). Cal State L.A.'s plan to raise admissions standards faces pushback from students and faculty. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-edu-cal-state-los-angeles-admissions-20190225-story.html
Zeleza, P. T. (March 12, 2020). Money Matters: The Financial Crises Facing Universities. The Elephant. Retrieved from: https://www.theelephant.info/ideas/2020/03/12/money-matters-the-financial-crises-facing-universities/
Fortune. (April 7, 2020). Colleges ate getting slammed amid the coronavirus crises – and the worst may still lie ahead. Retrieved from: https://fortune.com/2020/04/07/coronavirus-us-colleges-universities-finances-tuition-ticket-sales-enrollment/
Lorin, J. (April 8, 2020). Colleges With Empty Campuses Face an Uncertain Financial Future. Bloomberg. Retrieved from: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-08/colleges-with-empty-campuses-face-an-uncertain-financial-future