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, requires a series of calculations to allocate salary costs based on the person's individual teaching load. These individual calculations are then added to determine salary costs by level for each department. The shorter method differs only in that total teaching loads for each department are used to allocate total department faculty salaries, thereby eliminating individual calculations and directly arriving at departmental salary costs distributed to levels of instruction. The rationale for use of the long method is examined. However, the university also maintained an additional worksheet so the short method could be used on exactly the same data. The comparison of the two methods shows not only that both methods produce similar results, but that the short method may even be more valid. (SW)