This chapter describes how data analysis and data-driven decision making were critical for designing, developing, and assessing a new academic program. The authors--one, the program's founder; the other, an alumna--begin by highlighting some of the elements in the program's incubation and, subsequently, describe some of the components for data…

Public higher education has relied on a variety of funding structures since the 1950s. Layzell (2007) describes five general approaches in contemporary use in the United States. "Incremental (baseline) budgeting" uses the current year budget as the base and then makes adjustments to account for expected changes in activities, revenues,…

Departments are the basic organizational units of academic institutions, and their power contributes to growing pressure for accountability. Their role in resource allocation determinations is examined. (Editor/LBH)

Reviews the multifaceted challenges facing public universities and offers insights into the potential educational consequences of overzealous revenue-based institutional management. It is vital not to lose sight of the essential elements of higher education in a concentration on finance. (SLD)

Effective management and sound education require the development of sophisticated departmental budget models and processes. Efficient methods of resource allocation compatible with institutional organization, goals, and needs have not yet been put into effect. (Editor/LBH)

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…

Guided by clear planning principles, and under the custodial care of a governance council, the model strategic planning process at Carroll Community College is evidence-driven, connected to budget decisions, and continuously refreshed.

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)

Compared the willingness of states to invest in higher education and institutional sectors by studying state expenditures and fiscal tax effort. Findings show significant disparities in the ways states finance higher education and its sectors. Poorer states tend to exert more tax effort in public higher education, while wealthier states are less…

Discussing the definitions and perspectives regarding the notion of productivity in higher education, the author indicates that his effort has highlighted the inadequacy of our current ability to measure and analyze productivity, more specifically to determine and measure the value of the outcomes of higher education. (JT)

Effective college information-technology (IT) planning must be integrated into institutional planning, mission, and goals. Topics discussed include key constructs for ensuring that the acquisition and implementation of IT furthers the institution's strategic plan, an inclusive governance structure and facility planning approach, funding…

The instructional service component of academic departments is explored due to concern for the development of a budgetary plan that accounts both for the inherent differences in disciplines and the concomitant instructional methodologies affecting input and output properties and for operational differences among departments. (LBH)

Reasons for more intensive scrutiny of departmental operations and budgets are reviewed, along with the factors that have prevented such study. The means and procedures for such review are listed with comments and cautions about putting these procedures into operation. (LBH)

Instead of collegiate priorities determining resource allocation, the resource allocation process can often shape the priorities. Current approaches are reviewed with focus on (1) how different approaches to setting priorities accommodate lack of consensus on campus; (2) incentives incorporated into resource allocation approaches; and (3)…

When real resources decline, demands change, or programs lose vitality, then a logical move is to reallocate resources to facilitate academic planning. Reallocation schemes and experiences at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and Oklahoma State University are described and compared. (Author/MLW)