State support of community colleges has been reduced in recent years and is not expected to recover to previous levels, even though costs continue to rise. While many colleges have increased tuition in response to this situation, students cannot afford endless increases in tuition. While predicting the future is difficult, it is likely that community colleges will continue to be expected to do more with less. Facing declining revenue and increasing costs, institutions of higher learning must become more efficient and self-sustaining, and college administrators need tools to help bridge the gap between revenues and costs. A first step is for administrators to understand the processes they manage and their associated costs. The present study presents a model approach for the creation of such a tool--a generic, service-oriented cost model for a student's admission to the college. Why examine the student admission registration processes? Every student entering college goes through an admission registration process. By entering all the potential components and tasks in the admissions process into a matrix, users can identify the admission registration tasks used at their college and build a cost model of admission tasks specific to their schools. This can help them to consider whether cost efficiencies are available. The cost model developed in this dissertation includes component definitions, calculation techniques, tasks, and cost assignment matrices. The researcher concluded that while the creation of such models is complex, it can be accomplished. Moreover, the model can be modified to fit other institutions and examine costs of other supportive services. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]