Cooperation for Cost-Effectiveness in Purchasing

✍ Scribed by Mitch Dorger

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Weight: 66 KB
• Volume: 1999
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0271-0560
• DOI: 10.1002/he.10608

✦ Synopsis

Each year my office receives calls or visits from college officials throughout the United States and from as far away as China who are seeking to learn about how a consortium of colleges is organized and operates. After a few introductory questions, the conversation inevitably turns to the bottom line. "Can any money be saved by operating within a consortium, and if so, how?"

This interest in saving money through cooperative operations is understandable. In recent years there has been a growing crescendo of voices across the nation calling for better cost controls in higher education. These are the voices of students' parents, of college and university trustees, and even of lawmakers. All are concerned that college tuition prices have grown at a rate well above that of inflation.

Top college administrators have clearly heard these voices and have tried to respond-but very real obstacles stand in the way of effective response. The cost of library materials, particularly journals-both paper and electronichas been increasing at a rate three to four times inflation; furthermore, increasing governmental regulation and changing rules have increased the cost and complexity of doing business, and information technology has become a veritable "black hole" for funding in many institutions. Moreover, expectations are rising, both on the part of students and parents. They want more from the colleges and universities they select but do not want to pay more. Couple these trends with the need to provide facilities for growing enrollments and to provide competitive salaries for faculty and staff, and you have the makings of a financial Gordian knot. Increasingly, presidents and chief financial officers are looking to the administrative and support side of their institutions to find new NEW DIRECTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, no. 106