This paper documents how the University of Oklahoma developed discipline cost indices which it then used in its budget allocation process. In order to overcome the interinstitutional comparison problems between universities which use different reporting and accounting methods, discipline cost indices were derived using data collected through the…

The derivation of discipline cost indexes, developed to permit accurate interinstitutional comparisons of relative costs among disciplines, is explained using expenditure data from five peer institutions. How the indexes have been used in one research university's budget allocation process is then described. (Author/MSE)