Analyses
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.
Reports From Other Sources
AGB/NACUBO Survey on College Costs (PDF), is a whitepaper by Jane Wellman for the Association of Governing Boards Initiative on College Costs.
Connecting the Dots Between Learning and Resources. (PDF)
Costs, Prices, and Affordability (PDF), is a background paper for the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, by Jane Wellman.
Diploma to Nowhere (PDF), a report of Strong American Schools (2008), looks at the problem – and costs – of college remediation. (Uses Delta Project data)
Do Expenditures Other Than Instructional Expenditures Affect Graduation and Persistence Rates in American Higher Education (PDF), a report by Douglas A. Webber and Ronald G. Ehrenberg that examines where money may best be spent to increase graduation rates.
False Fronts? Behind Higher Education's Voluntary Accountability Systems. (PDF)
Financing the Dream: Securing College Affordability for the Middle Class. (PDF)
Fiscal Survey of States, 2007, by the National Association of State Budget Officers, which produces annual publications on trends in state expenditures, as well as a fiscal survey of the states.
Good Policy, Good Practice, Improving Outcomes and Reducing Costs in Higher Education: A Guide for Policymakers, is a joint report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.
The Higher Education Funding Disconnect: Spending More, Getting Less, by Jane V. Wellman for the November-December 2008 issue of Change Magazine.
Making it Real. (PDF) Incorporating cost managment and productivity improvements into financing decisions.
Measuring Up by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, rates each state on five performance categories for higher education: preparation (how well the state prepares students for college-level work), participation (enrollment access), completion (retention and degree attainment), affordability (prices and aid compared to family incomes), and benefits (financial, cultural and social benefits to the states resulting from higher education). They also have a number of other reports available in several topic areas: access and affordability, college-level learning, state performance, finance, governance, and public opinion.
One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008 (PDF), by the PEW Center on the States, is a trend report on spending for corrections, which includes a snapshot of trends in spending for higher education (declining) compared to trends in spending on corrections (increasing).
State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) Four-State Cost Study (2010) (PDF)
State Higher Education Finance (FY 2009) (PDF)
Strengthening Board Capacity for Overseeing College Costs (PDF), is a whitepaper by Jane Wellman for the Association of Governing Boards Initiative on College Costs.
10 Things Legislatures Should ask about Higher Education (PDF) is a report written by Vicky Murray for ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).
What Boards Are Doing – and Not Doing – in Reviewing Institutional Costs (PDF), is a whitepaper by Jane Wellman for the Association of Governing Boards Initiative on College Costs.