According to a formula developed to measure the adequacy of state educational finance levels, only three of six selected midwestern states provided adequate levels of expenditure per pupil in 1981-82. The formula for determining adequacy, developed by Jerry Miner and Walter McMahon, consists of totaling adequate levels of expenditure in seven…

The need for a system of price indexes for colleges and universities is discussed. First, past efforts to develop price indexes are reviewed, dating back to 1952 and highlighting two specific indexes, the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI) and the Uniform Price Index Calculation System (UPICS). For the latter, the price indexes of direct costs…

This paper consists of results of a state survey and case studies of Minnesota and Massachusetts, two states with recent histories in implementing tuition formulas. Both case studies are discussed within the context of state fiscal conditions and appropriations. The survey revealed that 16 states are attempting to establish an enduring rationale…

The communication of research findings among collegiate institutional researchers is considered in relation to the contribution of qualitative language in general, and catastrophe theory in particular. The qualitative language of catastrophe theory may help reduce the arbitrariness of description, through identification of qualitative features…

In order to assist college and university officials evaluating their institution's financial condition, a simplified workbook approach is presented. The approach encourages administrators to systematically examine the financial condition of their colleges with a tested and specified set of data-gathering and computational steps. The workbook…

Price indices related to specific expenditure categories are necessary for realistic budget projections in higher education. Given the erratic inflationary behavior of the past seven years, and the uniqueness of higher education expenditures, realistic inflation prediction requires a balanced combination of analytic forecasting and intuitive…

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…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) commissioned the papers in this publication to address advances in measuring education inflation and adjusting for it, as well as to examine the emergence of a new focus on school spending, rather than school district spending, as well as new, private sources of funding for public education, and…