ERIC Number: ED521778
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jun-24
Pages: 21
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Opportunities for Efficiency and Innovation: A Primer on How to Cut College Costs. Working Paper 2011-02
Fried, Vance H.
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
In this paper the author explores how colleges whose primary mission is undergraduate education can strategically allocate resources in a way that reduces costs and prioritizes teaching and learning. He starts from a provocative thought-experiment--what would it cost to educate undergraduates at a hypothetical college built from scratch?--and uses the exercise to identify areas that are ripe for cost savings. Rather than focusing only on the conspicuous, big-ticket items that tend to dominate debates about college costs, the author argues that the real levers for increasing efficiency include rethinking student-faculty ratios, eliminating under-enrolled programs, and trimming unnecessary administrative positions. This paper also outlines how policymakers can create incentives for undergraduate colleges to pursue reforms that will make them more cost-effective. (Contains 6 tables and 19 endnotes.)
Descriptors: Undergraduate Study, Educational Finance, Paying for College, Costs, Colleges, Resource Allocation, Teacher Student Ratio, Educational Administration, Incentives, Change Strategies, Class Size, Enrollment, Budgeting, Research, Public Service, Teacher Salaries, Productivity, College Faculty, Faculty Workload, Online Courses
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. 1150 Seventeenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-862-5800; Fax: 202-862-7177; Web site: http://www.aei.org
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A