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This study examines direct instructional costs to universities and focuses on identifying institution- and program-level cost drivers, while comparing how these drivers differ across academic disciplines. 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SNYDER MARCIA L. PRESTON ALLISON DUNCKEL  \nUnderstanding Within-Discipline Variance in Higher Education Instructional Costs to Enhance Funding Conversations  \nAs the price of college tuition continues to rise, higher education institutions and their governing bodies are facing immense pressure to fully understand and explain how tuition, fees, and other sources of revenue are being spent on their campuses. Understanding these expenditures is not only important for the leadership and constituents of the higher education institution, but it is also essential knowledge at the state level, where decisions regarding equitable funding allocations for public colleges and universities are made.  \nWhile research exists on many different facets of higher education costs, price, and expenditures, this research will focus on one particular area of interest—the direct cost to the university to deliver an education to its students, which on average makes up 34% of the core expenses at public four-year institutions and 39% at private, not-for-profit four-year institutions (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023) . While instructional costs are just one piece of the overall expenditures puzzle, they play a crucial role in budgetary conversations and decision-making. Interestingly, even though overall instructional expenditures at public institutions have been increasing over time (Iwamasa and Thrasher, 2019), the cost of delivering instruction per student has remained relatively constant over the last couple of decades (McPherson & Shulenburger, 2010; Hemelt et al., 2021) . However, across disciplinesand institutions, instructional costs can vary significantly—Middaugh et al. (2003) found that the majority of variation in costs is discipline-specific.  \nThe current study builds on previous work that explored cost variation across disciplines within a single institution as well as within-discipline cost variation across numerous institutions. We focus specifically on identifying institution-and program-level cost drivers, while also exploring how those drivers differ between disciplines.1 Any new insights from this study will have important implications for conversations related to higher education funding, especially equitable funding at public colleges and universities.  \nHigher Education Instructional Costs  \nDue to limited access to department-or program-level data, much of the research on higher education instructional costs has been confined to expenditures that are reported at the institution level. This includes important work from Brinkman (1981) on instructional costs at  \n1 For this paper, the term “program” refers to an academic unit at a college or university from which data can be collected and analyzed (e.g., program-level costs) . These units are typically departments but can also be individual degree programs or entire schools. Conversely, the term “discipline” refers to an academic field of study (e.g., Chemistry or English) to which programs are generally aligned. The two terms are often used interchangeably in higher education, and the distinction has minimal impact on our overall findings. However, we emphasize the distinction to indicate when we are specifically talking about a unit of measurement and analysis versus when weare generalizing the conversation to broader academic disciplines.  \nmajor research institutions; Archibald and Feldman (2008) on the causes of the increasing cost and price of higher education; McPherson and Shulenburger (2010) on the relationship between costs and rising tuition; and Desrochers and Hurlburt (2016) with their research on the Delta Cost Project.  \nAt the institution level, instructional costs are driven by a variety of factors, including Carnegie Classification2 (Desrochers & Hurlburt, 2016; McPherson & Shulenburger, 2010); public or privat","cbCaikaLEMebXruL","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikaLEMebXruL","pdf",609748,32,"English","# Overview and Motivation\n## Direct Instructional Costs and Variation\n# Study Focus and Definitions\n## Institution- and Program-Level Drivers\n# Prior Research and Background\n## Institution-Level Cost Factors\n## Program-Level Cost Analyses\n## Key Findings from Major Studies","[{\"question\":\"What is the main purpose of the study?\",\"answer\":\"To enhance funding conversations by explaining how direct instructional costs vary within disciplines and across institutions, and by identifying institutional and program-level cost drivers.\"},{\"question\":\"Which costs are emphasized in the research?\",\"answer\":\"The study focuses on the direct cost to a university to deliver education to its students, treating it as a core component of instructional expenditures.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the study consider program-level analysis?\",\"answer\":\"Program-level analysis preserves nuance that is lost when instructional costs are only measured at the institution level, enabling identification of additional program-level cost drivers and clarifying discipline-specific differences.\"}]","Understanding Within-Discipline Variance in Higher Education Instructional Costs - to Enhance Funding Conversations - Study | PDF",1792060756,81]