AGB [the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities] launched The Cost Project in 2006 with a generous grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. This multiyear effort identified effective cost-saving measures being taken by public and private institutions and to stimulate a national dialogue on costs -- on campus and throughout higher education. The Cost Project offered guidance for on-campus discussions of cost containment; made presentations at AGB meetings over the two years of the project's existence; and published a series of publications for boards, policymakers, and administrators. 

Links to download the various PDFs are here:

• Strengthening Board Capacity for Strategic Financial Oversight; 
• Strengthening Board Capacity for Overseeing College Costs;
• What Board Are Doing - And Not Doing - in Reviewing Institutional Costs; and
• a Bibliography of Resources.