When a college or university is faced with financial problems, it can either seek more revenue or reduce costs. With the constantly growing costs of education and research and the increasing resistance of legislators and other financial contributors, cost reduction is becoming the necessary alternative. In taking this route, 11 problem areas need…

This report shows in detail how cost analysis of educational programs has been used at the junior college level. The primary objective of the National Junior College Finance Study is to determine the cost of educating a student in a specified curriculum and to utilize these data to demonstrate the relationship of the unit cost of each of several…

In this paper, the author looks at the contribution of education to economic growth and examines the desirability of public vs private financing of education from the standpoint of economic efficiency and equity. The author sees expenditures on education as an investment in human capital, the contribution to output of such an investment depending…

Upper level colleges, those institutions offering only junior and senior year baccalaureate programs and programs leading to master's and doctoral degrees, could be funded under the same formulas as other colleges and universities, but the development of a special funding formula is highly recommended. In the state of Texas, the funding formula…

Performance assessment involves comparing the level and quality of an institution's outcomes with its objectives and examining input-output (cost-benefit) relationships. (Author/IRT)

Low-cost consumer videocassette recorders (VCRs) are used to view copies of educational films in Baltimore, Maryland, schools. Contracts with suppliers secure rights to educational programs and provide videotapes in quantities of from 25 to 100 copies for each title. Federal block grants helped finance the VCR purchases. (MLF)

Designing a cost planning requires attention to the external environment, as well as an understanding of the relative influence of facts, as opposed to values, in resource allocation processes. A context for selecting design characteristics of a planning process is established. (MLW)

This discussion of the cost efficient allocation of time in public libraries highlights time as a "fee," the cost of time, time and public library use, Sunday hours and time, cost of Sunday hours, the flextime factor, and use of Sunday hours. Eight sources are given. (EJS)

An approach to cost analysis that begins in the department, the lowest organizational level, is discussed, using tables designed to outline the distribution of instructional staff resources and academic program characteristics such as enrollment, student characteristics, curricula requiring the course, and staff cost data, by course. (MSE)

CAI can pay by choosing a market where a decrease in training time or an increase in student-teacher ratios can be translated into lower over-all costs to the system. This situation obtains when CAI is used for the education and training of professionals, children with learning disabilities and others whose instructional needs cannot be met by the…

Applies output budgeting techniques to the "production" of graduates at a British University. The cost per student graduated in 18 different disciplines is first divided among (1) capital and maintenance costs, (2) teaching costs, and (3) administrative and general expenditures. The potential cost savings from more efficient utilization…

Resource optimization in building design is based on the total system over its expected useful life. Alternative environmental systems can be evaluated in terms of resource costs and goal effectiveness. (Author/MF)

An interesting perspective is offered on how one institution dealt with its fiscal problems and instituted new approaches to budgeting. (Author/JN)

Article is an outgrowth of two conference presentations by the author at the Regional Seminar on Financing and Cost of Education in Central America and Panama, Guatemala City, Guatemala, September 6-11, 1971. (RJ)