Learning Resources

Abstract: This study examines the relationships among college prices, expenditures, and revenues within four groups of public institutions and three groups of private not-for-profit institutions. To provide context for the analysis, aggregate trends for 1988–89 to 1997–98 were compiled. These data were analyzed through the use of statistical modeling techniques, in which separate models for the public and private not-for-profit sectors were identified and updated with more recent data. In each of these models, the associations between “sticker prices” (published tuition levels) and costs, revenues, and other factors were explored to provide some insight into the nature of higher education finance.

Abstract: Colleges and universities are faced with increasing demands for accountability and performance data with respect to faculty activity and productivity from diverse audiences and constituencies, ranging from academic planners and legislators to parents and taxpayers. This article argues that different audiences have different information needs and that a one-size-fits-all approach to describing faculty activity and productivity is both inappropriate and potentially harmful. Concrete strategies are proposed for providing appropriate information to these disparate groups.

Abstract: This article reports on a methodology long used by The Texas A&M University System—notably the campuses of Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University-College Station—to monitor the efficiency with which their resources are employed in the enterprise. Others can now use these concepts to respond to and prepare for these new fiscal realities, to react before institutional weakness becomes too enervating, and to help constructively shape the changes that are coming, rather than simply react to them. Concomitant with that methodology is a proposed model to apply these findings to examine complex financial issues that currently influence higher education and will continue to do so during the next decade.

Abstract: In response to student and faculty complaints about the amount of time available to travel between classes, an analysis of the time between classes problem was conducted at a large, public research university. Using facilities, course scheduling, and student survey data, we discovered that many students had distances to travel between classes that would normally take longer than the allotted 10 minutes. This forced them to leave class early, arrive to class late, or skip class altogether and often left them with an inadequate amount of time to complete exams. These analyses supported a decision to implement a policy regarding student scheduling.