When Diversity and Dollars Collide: Challenges for Higher Education

The challenges of meeting the needs of diverse students have long been recognized in higher education. As many institutions wrestle with austere budgets, however, diversity programs are struggling to maintain their effectiveness amidst financial rescissions. This climate of austerity coincides with demographic predictions for an increasingly diverse student body. This article outlines the challenges and offers ideas for institutions to enhance learning for contemporary students, even in the midst of fiscal challenges. These ideas go beyond the simple prioritization of diversity programs to propose ideas for institutional transformation to meet the needs of a diverse student body.