Welcome
Delta Project Data
The Delta Project has organized data on operating spending and revenues into aggregate measures of costs per student and costs per degree/certificate produced, organized into Carnegie classifications separating public and private nonprofit institutions.
Developing data and policy tools to improve productivity and public
accountability for performance in postsecondary education.
Welcome
Welcome to The Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity, and Accountability
New Report and Online Data Tool Released: Trends in College Spending, 1998-2008
The Delta Cost Project has released a new national trends report and cost-comparison tool that provides significant insight into how thousands of the nation's colleges and universities are spending their resources. The report - Trends in College Spending 1998-2008: Where Does the Money Come From? Where Does It Go? What Does It Buy? - examines national college spending and resource trends in the years leading up to the current recession, with implications for what that means for "the new normal" in college spending.
To make spending data more transparent and accessible, the Delta Project has also unveiled a web-based tool, Trends in College Spending (TCS) Online (www.tcs-online.org) that can be used to examine and compare nearly 2,300 public and private non-profit colleges and universities from 2002 to 2008.
- Full Report (PDF)
- News Release (PDF)
- TCS Online
- Guidebook to TCS Online (PDF)
Recent Data Release: Delta IPEDS Database 1987-2008
The Delta Cost Project has released an updated version of the Delta Cost Project IPEDS Database, which now includes data from 1987-2008.
Recent Publications
Breaking Bad Habits: Navigating the Financial Crisis
By Dennis Jones and Jane Wellman
May / June 2010 issue
Change magazine
Student Service Expenditures Matter
by Ronald G. Ehrenberg and Douglas A. Webber
May / June 2010 issue
Change magazine
How to Fix a Broken System: Funding Public Higher Education and Making It More Productive (PDF)
Public Higher Education Forum
Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University
April 2, 2010
Our Mission
The mission of the Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity, and Accountability is to help improve college affordability by controlling costs and improving productivity. The work is animated by the belief that college costs can be contained without sacrificing access or educational quality through better use of data to inform strategic decision making.
The Delta Project is an independent non-profit organization committed to the creation of analytical tools to:
- Document trends in college spending;
- Understand where and why college costs are increasing;
- Translate technical accounting information into benchmarks for institutional and policy audiences;
- Identify and promote best practices that generate the greatest return on investment for access and success; and
- Promote institutional and policy strategies for improved productivity.