The private return to postsecondary investment varies widely by field, but the resources required by different fields are not well known. This paper establishes five new facts about college costs using novel department-level data. First, costs vary widely across field, ranging from electrical engineering (109 percent higher costs than English) to…

The education sector especially higher education in Nigeria faces financial challenges. The recurrent cost of university education constitutes about 95% of the total cost incurred by the government in Nigeria. However, the Nigerian government is unable to meet the UNESCO recommendation that 26% of national budgets should be allocated to education.…

The flexibility of an educational program, institution, or system can be described as the ability of the unit to absorb negative responses, such as reductions in funding or enrollments, and continue to function in a viable manner. One approach to adjustment to such reductions is to effect cuts in personnel, current, and equipment spending. This…

Provides a single formula for merit-raise salary schemes based on either a fixed cash amount, a percentage of base salary, or any combination of the two. Explains that the formula makes explicit how merit scores, together with prior salaries and the money available for raises, determine individual salaries. (CMK)

Two allocation methods for studying costs per student credit hour at Montana State University are compared. Both a long method and a short method, using the same source of data, were proposed prior to the study. The long method required much more effort, in that it considers every individual faculty member's salary and, for each faculty member,…

Defining financial management as the provision of financial data for, and the use of that data in, the planning, management, and evaluation functions of an institution, this document suggests an approach to improvement in the provision of financial data. A series of five cost sheets are presented which allow for cost calculations at differing…

A formula model is presented for use by the chief academic officer, college deans, department chairpersons, and section heads to make the specific dollar allocations to the academic units for which they are responsible. The following calculations and estimations of the factors in the formula are explained: total adjusted amount to be allocated, in…

A comparative budget analysis approach employed by British universities is discussed. The British funding system analyzes in detail unit costs and marginal costs and undertakes comparative assessments of expenditure patterns and priorities for a group of 95 institutions with similar objectives, in which each has autonomy in resource allocation.…

A unit cost analysis for fiscal year (FY) 1979 was conducted by the Illinois Community College Board using mid-term enrollment data and uniform accounting information from each of the state's 51 community colleges. Unit costs for instructional areas were determined at three incremental levels: (1) net instructional cost (NIC), which includes…

To examine the relative attractiveness of program offerings for different types of higher education institutions and the relation of these offerings to the viability of the institutions, three data sources were used to derive eight composite indexes describing the market values of degrees awarded by colleges and universities. The indexes, termed…

The way that inflation has created pressure points on quantity of resouces and quality of outcomes in postsecondary education is examined, along with the situation of the chemistry department of the University of Montreal. Data from the chemistry department for 1971-80 are used to assess the impact of inflation on various objects of expenditures…

Explained and illustrated is the formula funding system used for colleges and universities in Texas. This system is considerably more complicated than the formulas used in other states. Data for institutions in the state system for fiscal 1978 are presented; actual appropriations are used rather than requests, and formula-produced amounts are…

As visual education departments are very recent additions educational systems, their place in educational institutions is not very well defined. It is desirable as early as possible: (1) to find out what the existing practices are, (2) to institute comparisons among them, and (3) to use these as furnishing clues for establishing the most desirable…