This chapter will value of including diverse voices of researchers. An innovative, cost-effective model for assessment will be described, capturing the process implemented at a university in its efforts to center social justice within assessment and evaluation research practices.

Every college and university, whether public or private; two-year, four-year, or graduate; traditional or online, depends on recruiting and enrolling new students and strives to have as many of those students as possible complete their educational programs. Knowing how effectively an institution is managing the various stages of enrollment is…

Surveys and benchmarks continue to grow in importance for community colleges in response to several factors. One is the press for accountability, that is, for colleges to report the outcomes of their programs and services to demonstrate their quality and prudent use of resources, primarily to external constituents and governing boards at the state…

The need for educational programs to show their return on investment is exemplified in the intense debate surrounding gainful employment programs--defined as programs that lead to gainful employment in a recognized occupation and theoretically differ from programs that offer education in the liberal arts or prepare students for further education.…

Financial accounting methods fall short of fully accounting for the relative sustainability of college and university operations. Management of social, environmental, and economic performance will be aided by changes to and new developments in financial accounting practices to complement other indicators of sustainability.

Straightforward application of simple economic concepts can explain relationships between expenditures and gift revenues, including those related to predisposition and capacity, and has practical applications in interpreting costs. (Author/MSE)

Various budgeting patterns and strategies are currently in use, each with its own particular strengths and weaknesses. Neither cost-benefit analysis nor cost-effectiveness analysis offers any better solution to the allocation problem than do the unsupported contentions of departments or the historical unit costs. An operable model that performs…

This paper examines issues related to the costs of higher education in the context of recent national studies. It reviews initiatives of the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education, the congressionally mandated College Cost Study, and the National Association of College and University Business Offices' Cost of College Project. Notes…

Procedures permit grouping departments on variables that provide an equitable basis for departmental funding. The series of steps is outlined whereby the financial significance of various process and role variables can be determined. (Editor/LBH)

Studied the determinants of an institution's transfer enrollment using data from a national sample of institutions from 1984 to 1997 (n=3,036 private institutions and 2,341 public institutions). Findings have implications for efficiency gains within state systems through improved planning. (SLD)

Increasingly, higher education institutions are using Total Quality Management (TQM) as a vehicle for delivering cost-effective programs and services. The TQM philosophy is that quality can be improved by ceaselessly improving the processes that support the institution's mission. TQM is applicable to institutional research and planning as well as…

Since cost study data have their greatest impact when viewed within the context of institutional peers, this paper provides sources and strategies for the most effective use of comparative expenditure data. Considers comparisons at both the institutional and program level, as well as political considerations in using comparative data. Most…

Efforts of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst illustrate the use of cost information in decision-making. The Instructional Cost Index can be used to determine the unit costs of instruction and, combined with information from an induced course load matrix system, can provide data on the costs of programs. (LBH)

Recent evidence suggests that traditional cost analysis may not be the most appropriate way to justify educational budgets. This article suggests that using constructed cost models to develop operating budget requests can help ensure that the distinction between legitimate information needs and managerial autonomy is maintained. (LBH)

A conceptual framework is proposed for describing and measuring assessment costs and linking these costs to their informational benefits. Direct resource components and incidental and opportunity costs of evaluation are discussed. (MLW)