This paper compares and contrasts different strategies to balance academic institutions' operating budgets. Some strategies use economic theory to recommend a budgeting technique, others use management methods to cut cost, and some strategies use a management accounting approach to reach a balanced budget. Through the use of a simplified numerical…

At its April 27, 2014 meeting, the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the funding models for the two-year colleges, universities, and the technical centers (former technical institutes merged with universities). These models had been developed in conjunction with presidents and chancellors after meetings and revisions. The…

Colleges and universities are thinking strategically about their business models. Reductions in state and federal appropriations, endowment volatility, fundraising uncertainties, and limits on tuition increases are creating persistent shortfalls in operating budgets. This all comes when institutions are being called upon to enroll and graduate…

Facing steep budget cuts and rising energy costs, many colleges are grappling with how to finance urgently needed, but capital intensive, energy efficiency upgrades on campus. One innovative approach, using return-oriented green revolving funds (GRFs), is a rapidly growing trend at colleges and universities. GRFs can invest in a variety of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how activity-based costing (ABC) technique can be applied in the context of higher education institutions. It also discusses the obstacles and challenges to the successful implementation of activity-based management (ABM) in the higher education environment. Design/methodology/approach: This paper…

This study uses a regression model to determine if a significant difference exists between the actual budget allocation that an academic department received and the model's predicted budget allocation for that same department. Budget data from a Southeastern Master's/Comprehensive state university were used as the dependent variable, and the…

In order to make rational budgetary decisions, higher educational institutions require information on the impact of inflation on their operations. A simple and easily maintainable model from which price indices for a particular institution can be constructed is described. (Author/LBH)

A total of 114 independent colleges and universities were surveyed to estimate the impact of changes in social security taxes over a nine-year period from 1979 through 1987. The model used in the November 1977 NAICU study is retained in this study, which has been expanded to include more detailed tables by institutional type. The tables can…

A model of departmental support expenditures is constructed. The requirements for administrative and technical staff and for operating funds of a university's academic units were analyzed, and these were related to a number of quantitative characteristics of the units. (Author/MLW)

The issue of whether institutions of higher education should cost account space and physical plant operating and maintenance expenses to their academic programs is examined. Space costing is cited as a philosophical base for cost accounting space, operating, and maintenance expenses to the individual academic unit of an institution. (Author/MLW)

The proposed methodology was designed to implement the Board of Governor's January 9, 1973, motion regarding the translation of the university's 1973-74 operating budgeting into a program budget showing the resources required by the various university programs and outputs. The methodology defines the main functions of the university in terms of…

The design concept and initial development phases of academic information management (AIM) are discussed. The AIM concept is an attempt to serve three segments of academic management with data and models to support decision making. AIM is concerned with management and evaluation of instructional computing in areas other than direct computing (data…

The authors discuss a method to increase institutional efficiency and financial stability through strategic planning, by gradually reallocating funds raised for annual operations to quasi-endowment over a period of years using a weaning model. The weaning model is offered as a tactic to address issues of financial vulnerability developed in…

Indicators of the financial health of colleges and universities are considered, along with causes of financial problems, a conceptual framework for institutional financial flows, and data sources. Five indicators are addressed: changes in institutional distress potential for private colleges, changes in institutional financial resources, changes…

This paper presents SPACE, a space planning and cost estimating simulation model designed to allow analysis of alternative class scheduling patterns and their consequent resource demands. Several illustrative examples of the model's use are given, with documentation of the validation procedures using data from the University of California. The…