Reviews two papers appearing in this "Economics of Education Review" issue. Faults M.J. Bowman, B. Millot, and E. Schiefelbein's tax burden study for excluding background information on educational goals in France, Chile, and Malaysia. Criticizes L. R. Jones, F. Thompson, and W. Zumeta for viewing budgeting as limiting expenditures, rather than…

To solve the problems of cost identification and allocation in an extended education office, a segment margin approach was used. (Segment margin is the difference between revenues and traceable direct costs.) Courses could be evaluated by segment margin rather than net income, since allocated indirect costs are not controllable by the individual…

The trend toward increased tuition must be reversed if the community colleges are to fufill their promise as open-door institutions. (Editor)

Unit cost analysis provides a rationale for distributing capital costs of physical facilities. (Editor)

A formula is given that enables one to determine the parameters for amortizing an information system within a year. The formula is illustrated with three mechanized information systems for patents. The most critical parameter is shown to be indexing time. (7 references) (Author/NH)

Between 1986 and 2004, textbook prices rose 186 percent in the United States, or slightly more than six percent per year. Meanwhile, other prices rose only about three percent per year. This paper examines the economic reasons why textbook prices have escalated so briskly and what reasonable alternatives are available that might slow down these…

Changing how the federal government reimburses states for foster care has been on the mind of reformers for more than 15 years. In an effort to advance the debate, the Department of Health and Human Services published an issue brief in 2005 that examines the relationship between federal Title IV-E funding and child outcomes at the state level. The…

A cost analysis of the developmental education program on the North Campus of Florida Junior College at Jacksonville revealed that in the 1972/1973 fiscal year the special credit courses offered for remedial students cost over 80 percent more than regular credit courses. Among the developmental courses offered (English, reading, mathematics, and…

Course costs consist of direct costs (teaching salaries) added to indirect departmental and indirect college-wide costs. Course receipts are obtained by adding the state allocations per HEGIS discipline multiplied by the number of FTE generated by Student Semester Hours of enrollment in that discipline to a calculated portion of student tuition.…

Based on the premise that cost measurement for a library can be performed in the same manner as for an industrial organization, this paper presents a hypothetical cost determination problem of a small company which produces bricks. A summary of the five steps taken to develop the various cost figures are: (1) Assign all cost items to the…

The development and evaluation of a system for designing instructional plans and resource patterns for those plans are described. Development of the system, which was in three stages, was based on the premise that decisions concerning efficient allocation of resources and the use of resources for effective instruction cannot realistically be made…

Briefly considers an educational trend, "the concern for the student as an individual", and then looks at equipment on the market that is particularly suitable for accomodating the individual. (Author/RK)

Describes the Connecticut Unit of Service System, a unified system for quantifying services and service delivery that is administratively useful in monitoring and allocating resources. Includes a Relative Value Scale which incorporates staff time and related work to allow a comparison of inpatient and outpatient service. (JAC)

The 4th installment of a Building Cost File discusses the various techniques used for the evaluation of design and planning alternatives. Includes a cost analysis of Kresge College (see EA 504 942). Other related articles are EA 503 949, EA 504 572, and EA 504 579. (Author/MLF)

The recommendations of James B. Conant in the 1950s led to high school consolidation across the country. Although the surviving small schools have weaknesses, they have benefits as well. (JM)