Since Breneman and Haarlow (1998) first estimated the national cost of developmental education to be approximately $1 billion dollars, the developmental education landscape has shifted in numerous ways. This paper provides an update to their estimate in light of both these changes and improved data that disaggregates the cost to community colleges…

The Green Loan Fund at Harvard University has been an active source of capital for energy efficiency and waste reduction projects for almost a decade. This case study examines the revolving fund's history from its inception as a pilot project in the 1990s to its regeneration in the early 2000s to its current operations today. The green revolving…

Intercollegiate athletics (ICA) is becoming an increasingly expensive venture at America's colleges and universities. Some big-time athletic powers have athletic budgets exceeding $100 million annually, and even schools with lesser reputations in the NCAA's Divisions II and III have had sharp increases in athletic budgets in recent years.…

One of the standard labor practices of research universities is to hire, pay, and promote faculty members on the basis of the research they produce. In the humanities, professors write books and articles and universities reward them accordingly. The system amounts to a considerable expenditure for the institution and a significant portion of…

Inspired by a white paper produced by the Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity, and Accountability, this study uses different measures of calculating the cost of a college degree at an upstate community college in New York. Departmental cost per credit hour, direct instructional costs, and full costs are all explained. A…

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…

The authors discuss how to use economic techniques to evaluate educational programs and show how to apply basic cost analysis to implementation of school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS). A description of cost analysis concepts used for economic program evaluation is provided, emphasizing the suitability of these concepts for evaluating…

Enrollment management is a process critical to most small private universities that rely on tuition for a significant portion of their operating budgets. Often these universities rely on outside consultants to help them in performing this important process. This case study describes how university assets were used to create an interactive…

In this paper, a companion piece to "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools" (ED544382), the authors analyze small high school spending in three urban districts--Baltimore City, Boston, and Chicago--to understand whether it is higher than in larger schools; if it is, why it is different; and the policy…

Institutions are turning to responsibility-centered budgeting to instill campuswide fiscal responsibility. The approach places budget authority within individual academic units and allows decision makers to see their program's share of overhead expenses. The University of Indiana and Purdue University at Indianapolis have undertaken a joint…

A cost analysis of day care in Denmark was initiated to determine what day care services cost, who pays for them, and how these costs relate to the quality of day care services. Some of the findings are: (1) group day care is considerably more expensive for children 0-3 years of age than for children 3-7 years of age; (2) group day care centers…

Alternative types of business entities and their different tax treatments are examined as they relate to campus entertainers. Issues examined include sole proprietorships; partnerships; corporations; office expenses; independent contractors vs. entertainment agency employees; and selecting a tax advisor. Examples of specific situations are…

At the University of Akron (Ohio), research productivity was enhanced through improved information exchange, implementation of a systematic approach to securing funds, grant-writing seminars, reallocation of indirect-cost returns, establishment of a fund to cover unplanned expenditures, and other support activities. Creation and maintenance of a…

To evaluate the adequacy and efficiency of preschool education, the RAND Corporation has undertaken the California Preschool Study to improve understanding of achievement gaps in the early elementary grades, the adequacy of preschool education currently given, and what efficiencies or additional resources might be brought to bear in early care and…

Case studies are reported from 19 diverse institutions that, in spite of design limitations, implemented initial conservation programs that saved 15 to 25 percent of the energy previously used. Reporting institutions continued to reduce energy consumption through the development of an energy management program. Focus in this report is on cost…