Introduces this topical issue on costs in higher education with an overview of the economics of higher education. Considers various types of supplier costs (opportunity versus accounting costs), various ways of determining costs (cost accounting, statistical estimation, and modeling), and factors that influence supplier costs (environmental…

Asserts that "the devil is in the details" when determining costs and prices for distance delivery of courses, and describes Texas A&M University's process of determining cost and price for distance education courses. (EV)

Community college administrators frequently need to deal with program enrollment shifts resulting from economic and demographic shifts. Reallocating resources between areas of the college to adjust to those enrollment shifts can become a difficult process if there isn't a careful monitoring of enrollment patterns and program costs. The authors…

We review what is known about Head Start's impacts on children and argue that the program is likely to generate benefits to participants and society as a whole that are larger than program costs. Our conclusions differ from those in some previous reviews because we use a more appropriate standard to judge program effectiveness (benefit-cost…

Each year, Austin Independent School District Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) staff develop a plan of work to describe the scope of work for the coming year. The plans that make up this document identify programs to be evaluated and services to be provided by DRE staff and provide the blueprints for evaluation that staff will follow…

In this article, we discuss the development of online courses in higher education in terms of the in- structional quality and economic costs. In our conceptual analysis, we point out problems in developing online courses with sufficient quality due to limited funds being made available for online course development. Moreover, economic costs exist…

On March 23, 1983, testimony was heard concerning H.R. 904, a bill amending the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to eliminate certain restrictions on the eligibility of schools to participate in the Special Milk Program. Included in this brief publication are statements focusing on (1) the "false economy" of not providing surplus milk to…

A conceptual framework for considering the costs and benefits of postsecondary education assessment is presented, along with a typology linking the costs of evaluation to their informational benefits. A number of cost-analysis paradigms and techniques for assessing alternative evaluation projects at the institutional level are also examined. The…

In presenting and discussing a formula for determining the cost-effectiveness of health promotion programs, this paper addresses the following economic concepts: (f1) cause-specific years of life gained; (2) increased earnings; (3) program participant absenteeism, turn-over, and sick day utilization savings; (4) program cost; (5) cost per…

The third and final volume of a project designed to help North Carolina counties plan community based facilities for status offenders describes an approach to evaluating existing programs and proposed new ones. Instructions are given for collection of data on service resources through completion of worksheets specifying information on such topics…

This study is the second phase of a five-phase evaluation of Individually Guided Education (IGE) in elementary schools. Its purpose was to look at a nationwide subsample of 30 schools to determine validity of Phase 1 self-report data; implementation history and utilization of IGE network resources; feasibility of gathering IGE cost data; and IGE…

This paper is an introduction to the basic cost-related tools available to management for planning, evaluating, and organizing resources for the purpose of achieving objectives within a teacher education preparation program. Three tools are presented in separate sections. Part I on the cost accounting tool for identifying, categorizing, and…

The state's strategy for stimulating constructive change is to help clarify objectives, develop analysis techniques, and stimulate self-renewal. Each of these elements is considered in some detail. The problem of clarifying goals and objectives involves three contexts: the content, the level of specificity, and the individuals or groups to whom it…