A.C.A. §6-61-234 (Act 148 of 2017) directs the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board (AHECB) to adopt polices developed by the Arkansas Division of Higher Education (ADHE) necessary to implement a productivity-based funding model for state-supported institutions of higher education. At its October 27, 2017 meeting, the AHECB approved the…

A.C.A. §6-61-234 (Act 148 of 2017) directs the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board (AHECB) to adopt polices developed by the Arkansas Division of Higher Education (ADHE) necessary to implement a productivity-based funding model for state-supported institutions of higher education. At its October 27, 2017 meeting, the AHECB approved the…

Public universities are not for-profit businesses with an easy-to-understand bottom line: their financial reports are not designed to convey information to the public fully or to reflect all the costs of teaching and research. Financial reports do track every dollar in accordance with the accounting rules required by auditors, but they do not…

This "Trends in College Spending" update presents national-level estimates for the "Delta Cost Project" data metrics during the period 2001-11. To accelerate the release of more current trend data, however, this update includes only a brief summary of the financial patterns and trends observed during the decade 2001-11, with…

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…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of multiple decisions made every year in each of these areas. No single report can provide definitive answers to such broad and fundamental questions of public…

The expansion of higher education institutions during the last decade has resulted in financial strain during retrenchment times as colleges and universities try to continue paying personnel and building operating expenses. The extent of the problem is addressed in this article. (LBH)

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of multiple decisions made every year in each of these areas. No single report can provide definitive answers to such broad and fundamental questions of public…

This student guide is intended to assist persons employed as supervisors in learning to reduce costs. Discussed in the first four sections are the following topics: costs (functional, fixed, and variable costs and ways of controlling costs); cost consciousness (getting people involved, passing on information, and getting and giving feedback); and…

A framework for analyzing and classifying cost factors in higher education is presented. Costs are located in three sources (individual colleges and universities, the higher education community, and the socioeconomic and scientific-technological environment), and within each source, are a result of either cultural or material conditions. (MSE)

This chapter describes how the Kansas Study of Community College Instructional Costs and Productivity can be used in state, institutional, and regional accreditation contexts.

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…

Financing higher education requires political leaders, policymakers, and educators to address broad public policy questions, including ascertaining: the levels of state funding to colleges and universities that are necessary to maintain the economic and social well-being of the American people; the tuition levels that are appropriate given the…

One of the working papers in the final report of the Arizona Board of Regents' (ABOR) Task Force on Excellence, Efficiency and Competitiveness presents an overview of the State of Arizona ABOR, and university state operating budget request processes. This overview includes a 25-year state funding, productivity, and performance output history of…

A system to determine cost effectiveness of class size should be based on both budgeted and actual expenditures and credit hours at the individual course section level. These two factors, in combination, are often expressed as cost per credit hour, and this statistic forms the primary means of evaluating planned "inputs" against actual "outputs."…