Birmingham-Southern College has erroneously awarded millions of dollars in extra financial aid in recent years, contributing to economic woes that are now forcing the private institution to cut as much as $10-million from its $49-million budget, The Birmingham News reported. The problems, discovered in a recent audit, do not involve missing funds or illegal activity, the college's president, G. David Pollick, said. But several high-ranking employees in the college's finance and financial-aid offices have resigned, he said. The college has taken strong action to deal with financial problems before. In 2007, it moved to the NCAA's Division III to ease a $6-million deficit incurred during an eight-year stint in Division I.

An 11th-hour deal has saved the Big 12 Conference, ending weeks of speculation that six of the league's athletics programs would defect to the Pac-10 Conference. A group of influential TV executives, conference commissioners, athletic directors, and other administrators at various NCAA levels met to foil the Pac-10's efforts to add Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State, preventing a massive overhaul of college sports. The University of Texas comes out the biggest winner. It will pocket between $20-million and $25-million a year through a renegotiated TV deal, and by adding its own television network. Texas A&M and Oklahoma also stand to receive $20-million a year in TV money, while the seven other remaining institutions will get up to $17-million each—nearly double what they currently receive. The Big 12 didn't escape completely unchanged: Colorado left for the Pac-1...

Two organizations in Pennsylvania are questioning the findings of a report by researchers associated with Pennsylvania State University regarding the economic benefits of drilling in the Marcellus Shale, a large natural-gas deposit that lies under two-thirds of the state, the Associated Press reported. A natural-gas industry group supported the study.

The report, "The Economic Impacts of the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Play: An Update," acknowledges that the industry group paid for the study and states that the opinions and conclusions in the report "are those of the authors and not necessarily those" of the university or the industry group. But skeptics contend that the researchers' projections are too rosy and that, with the weight of the university's name and logo behind it, the report is skewing the debate.

One of the report's authors, Timothy J. Considine, said it was...

Private universities in the Boston area have taken varied approaches to a new IRS rule that requires nonprofit institutions to estimate the fair-market value of certain nontaxable perks—such as the housing that many colleges provide for their presidents—in reporting the executives’ total compensation, The Boston Globe reports. At the lower end, Harvard put the value of its president's historic digs in Cambridge at $8,000 a month, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said its presidential mansion would rent for $5,800 a month. Boston University, meanwhile, set the rental value of its president's home at $21,000 a month. Why the big gap? Boston U. assessed the entire house, while other universities counted only the portion considered to be a private residence.

Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education is considering pilot distance-learning, collaborative-degree programs across its 14 campuses in fields that are underenrolled on individual campuses, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. System leaders will present a plan to the faculty union on Monday that is expected to recommend such "shared programs" in areas like physics and foreign languages. Karen Ball, the system's vice chancellor for external relations, said officials would not identify the specific programs in the proposal before the faculty briefing.

The University of Florida is beefing up its accounting requirements for how grant funds are used in response to a state audit that found "severe deficiencies" in several cases, The Gainesville Sun reported. Two of those cases involved grants received by a former nuclear-engineering professor, Samim Anghaie, who, along with his wife, faces federal fraud charges for allegedly defrauding NASA and other agencies. The couple's trial is expected to begin next month. Matthew Fajack, the university's vice president and chief financial officer, outlined the accounting changes to a committee of the Board of Trustees on Thursday, and said that most of the findings in the state auditor's report, released in March, involved "compliance and documentation" issues.

Tony Atwater will step down as president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania to take a "national leadership role" with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Pennsylvania institution announced on Wednesday. An association official told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Mr. Atwater would begin a one-year, renewable appointment as a senior fellow with the AASCU in August.

The faculty at his Pennsylvania institution had strongly criticized Mr. Atwater's leadership style and spending practices in a no-confidence vote in December, and it was known that he was looking for other positions. Florida Atlantic University disclosed in February that he was among 43 candidates for the presidency there, and rumors had circulated in recent weeks on the Pennsylvania campus that he was about to resign, The Indiana Gazette, a local newspaper, reported.

Marquette University has reached what it calls a "mutually acceptable resolution" with Jodi O'Brien, the Seattle University scholar whom it hired then rejected as dean of its College of Arts and Sciences, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. In a letter to the campus on Wednesday, Marquette's president, the Rev. Robert A. Wild, wrote that officials had apologized to Ms. O'Brien "for the way in which this was handled and for the upset and unwanted attention that we have caused to this outstanding teacher and scholar." Father Wild also expressed regret for the anxiety the episode had caused on the campus, but said he stood by his decision to rescind the job offer. A Marquette spokeswoman would not say whether a financial payment was involved in the settlement.

Under legislation that Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois signed into law on Tuesday, the state's cash-strapped public universities can borrow against funds the state promised but has been unable to pay, the Chicago Tribune reported. Glenn Poshard, president of the Southern Illinois University system, said the measure was "critical to getting us through July and August payrolls." According to the Associated Press, Illinois so far has given universities only about half of the $1.4-billion that was promised for the current fiscal year, which ends this month.

Teaching and research assistants at the University of Washington, along with readers, graders, and tutors, have ratified a new one-year contract that maintains their health-insurance benefits and provides layoff protections, but does not give them raises, their union reported. The union, United Auto Workers Local 4121, had negotiated for a three-year pact, but recommended that members approve the one-year agreement reached last week "because it affords us important protections in the short term while we continue our fight" on other fronts.