How to find out how much a college spends per student?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>In some of the CC threads, I've noticed that posters mention how much particular colleges spend per student. At the best-endowed colleges, this $$ figure greatly exceeds the tuition and B&R that the colleges charge. While I've been able to find the college endowment rankings on the web <a href="http://www.nacubo.org/documents/research/FY04NESInstitutionsbyTotalAssetsforPress.pdf"&gt;http://www.nacubo.org/documents/research/FY04NESInstitutionsbyTotalAssetsforPress.pdf&lt;/a>, I can't seem to find any tables that rank which colleges spend the most per student.</p>

<p>P.S. I don't really want to turn this thread into a discussion about how the "$$ spent per student" is not the best statistic for comparing quality of colleges or finding the best fit for applicants. Just curious, that's all.</p>

2

<p>go to IPEDS Peer Analysis System</p>

<p><a href="http://nces.ed.gov/ipedspas/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://nces.ed.gov/ipedspas/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>click guest level
click I Agree
type in the name of one college of interest...this is your base college
click select
if a list of possible colleges comes up, check the box in front of the one you want and click continue
click "comparison group"
click "add by name"
type in your colleges by name...the number of spaces for names will increase as you keep typing...you can type in dozens at least
click "select"
a list of possibilities will come up...check the boxes before the ones you want and click "continue"
near the top, click "reports and stats"
click "institutions data"
under finance click "2003"
click "frequently used financial indicators"
check the boxes "instructional expenses per FTE", "academic support expenses", "student services expenses"
click "continue"
click "finished selection"
click "continue"</p>

<p>the numbers can seem pretty wierd and inconsistent depending on how the college does its accounting</p>

<p>instructional expenses per FTE in thousands:
Carleton 11
Amherst 17
Swarthmore 21
Oberlin 25
Williams 81
Haverford 19
Pomona 23
Wesleyan 8
Harvard 37
Yale 61
Princeton 31
Cornell 19
U Penn 27
Brown 20
Dartmouth 39
Columbia 42</p>

3

<p>Those numbers are not correct, probably for a multitude of reasons.</p>

<p>For example, for the year mentioned on the list above (ending June 2003), Swarthmore spent $67,028 per student (not including financial aid) and $77,062 per student including financial aid discounts). This data is straight from the audited year-end financial reports.</p>

<p>The best way to get spending data is the find the most recent audited financial report for the college of interest. In many cases, these are posted on the school's website -- sometime under the Finance Department, sometimes elsewhere.</p>

<p>Here's an example of the kind of reports that are available, this one an audited financial report from year-end June 2004:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/investment_office/Treas.Rpt.03_04.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/investment_office/Treas.Rpt.03_04.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>You will then find a line item called "Total Operating Expense". Divide this by the number of students for that year and you have the total spending per student. This figure will not usually include financial aid because that is reported as a reduction in revenue, rather than an expense, since it is money that the college never actually receives.</p>

<p>The highest numbers I've seen for LACs are in the $65k to $70k range (not inc. financial aid) -- Williams, Swarthmore, Wellesley. I haven't found the numbers for Amherst or Pomona, but would expect them to be in the same range.</p>

<p>Doing this excercise for universities is useless because it is impossible to break out spending that is even remotely related to undergrads. For example, you'll get grad school spending, med school spending, research spending, and spending for faculty who don't teach undergrads. The numbers are meaningless for a potential undergrad and not comparable, even among schools, because different universities are engaged in different businesses -- one might operate a Law School, another not, etc. I've seen numbers that indicate grad school per student spending is typically double that of undergrads and med school per student spending is typically three times that of undergrads. So, apples and apples comparisons are impossible.</p>

<p>The seemingly applicable "Instruction Expense" is too limited a budget category. That does not include the cost of operating the library, campus security, the deans office, the health and counseling services, tutoring services, dorms, food service, public service, undergrad research, study abroad, heating the classrooms, or a host of other expenses that are inherent in the residential college experience.</p>

4

<p>Collegehelp and Interesteddad - thanks for your reply and analysis. I also enjoyed your comments that I just found on previous CC thread "financial factors and college quality"</p>

5

<p>The IPEDS data is the standard for reporting finances to the US Department of Education. There is a lot of other finance data available through the IPEDS Peer Analysis System that I mentioned above, including total expenses. I like the three data elements that I mentioned because they are most likely to impact the educational experience of students (Instruction, Academic Support, and Student Services per FTE). For those who don't know, an "FTE" is "full-time equivalent" student such as fulltime students plus part-time divided by three OR part-time credit hours divided by 12.</p>

<p>Here are the instructions given to colleges when accounting for "Instruction Expenses":
01 – Instruction – Enter all instruction expenses of the colleges, schools, departments, and other instructional divisions of the institution and expenses for departmental research and public service that are not separately budgeted. The instruction category includes general academic instruction, occupational and vocational instruction, special session instruction, community education, preparatory and adult basic education, and remedial and tutorial instruction conducted by the teaching faculty for the institution’s students. (FARM para. 452.11). Include expenses for both credit and non-credit activities. Exclude expenses for academic administration if the primary function is administration (e.g., academic deans). Such expenses should be entered on line 04. </p>

<p>for "Academic Support":
04 – Academic support – Enter expenses for support services that are an integral part of the institution’s primary mission of instruction, research, or public service and that are not charged directly to these primary programs. Include expenses for libraries, museums, galleries, audio/visual services, academic development, academic computing support, course and curriculum development, and academic administration. Include expenses for medical, veterinary and dental clinics if their primary purpose is to support the instructional program, that is, they are not part of a hospital. (FARM para.452.14) </p>

<p>for "Student Services":
05 – Student services – Enter expenses for admissions, registrar activities and activities whose primary purpose is to contribute to students emotional and physical well-being and to their intellectual, cultural and social development outside the context of the formal instructional program. Examples are career guidance, counseling, financial aid administration, student records, athletics, and student health services, except when operated as a self-supporting auxiliary enterprise. (FARM para. 452.15)</p>

6

<p>Spending per student, except in very, very rough form, is not an indicator of much of anything, as, in smaller schools, the fixed costs (like the gardens) are spread over a much smaller number of students, without any indication as to whether it added significantly to eithr academic quality or quality of campus life. So while not meaningless, they are as compromised for undergrads as they are for schools with graduate schools (spending on graduate programs can have signficant positive as well as negative impacts on undergraduate life - including opportunities for research/mentoring, and in equipment.)</p>

7

<p>Does anyone know how to get facility info like sq feet per student/acres per student, & # of faculty/staff per student?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

8

<p>"that are not separately budgeted"</p>

<p>And this little innocuous phrase is what makes using the IPEDS "instructional expense" line problematic.</p>

<p>If you look at the financial statements, many relevant items are indeed "separately budgeted". For example, all of Swarthmore's student research and community service expenses are "separately budgeted" and appear in other categories.</p>

<p>Likewise the "Auxiliary Actvities" line isn't captured by your IPEDs categories, but nearly everything included in this category is directly related to the undergrad student experience, from the cost of operating the dorms to the cost of the study abroad programs to the cost of operating coffee bars in the major academic buildings that generate constant peer-to-peer and student-faculty "learning experiences".</p>

<p>The best, and most informative source of college financial data is to go right to the source -- study the annual financial reporting and, especially, the management commentary.</p>

9

<p>"the fixed costs (like the gardens) are spread over a much smaller number of students"</p>

<p>Virtually all costs are incremental on a per student basis. For example, for an equal student experience, a school with quadruple the number of students should have a campus four times as large and four times the gardens. The only time there would not be an incremental cost would be where assets could serve more students, for example, when a single swimming pool could serve 4000 undergrads without overcrowding. However, even in those cases, a swimming pool that serves fewers students and is less over-booked still contributes to "quality of student life". As we have seen from intro class sizes, large universities very seldom scale up all resources proportionally to their enrollment. The cost efficiencies are achieved by having more students in each Intro Econ section, more students using each swimming pool, more students enjoying (or not) each garden, etc.</p>

10

<p>Just as NCES data has its limitations, so too does relying on the accounting standards and reporting practices of individual institutions. Just because a financial statement passes muster from an auditor doesn't mean the numbers will be directly comparable from campus to campus.</p>

<p>I would interpret such numbers with the same caution I would extend to NCES data.</p>

11

<p>You made someone's day!</p>

<p>
[quote]
Virtually all costs are incremental on a per student basis.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I quoted this to the senior financial analyst two offices down and he is still laughing.</p>

12

<p>questions: If the net revenue per student (after gift aid is subtracted) equals $20,000 and expenditures per student exceed $20,000 doesn't that mean that the college is losing money? </p>

<p>And, if the expenditures per student exceed unadjusted tuition and fees, the college must be losing money, right?</p>

<p>How can Yale at $61000 expenses per FTE and Williams at $81000 per FTE be accurate? Could it be due to a temporary large expense, such as new construction?</p>

13

<p>Tuition is not the only revenue source coming in to colleges. One important source is philanthropic giving, which incudes both direct gifts and gifts from today and yesteryear that lead to endowment earnings. I separate these out because colleges do--some people give to "The Annual Fund" which goes right into the yearly budget, and some people give to the endowment, which is a body of money that is largely untouched and just earns insterest (some of which is spent, and some of which is kept in with the endowment to earn yet more money). Colleges like Swarthmore (to use a popular example) have very large endowments and very large endowment earnings to supplement the budget each year.</p>

<p>At public institutions, state appropriations are also an important source of revenue. At institutions where research is a big effort, money from federal, state, and private sources is also revenue (although much of the money goes to support the research itself, indirect cost recovery puts some money towards general operating expenses).</p>

<p>Generally large expenses like construction are reported in the capital budget, not the budget that reports the day-to-day, normal expenses of educating students. Those might be funded by bonds or other borrowing that would spread the capital costs out, as well. It's like when most american families build or buy a house. It generally exceeds their year's income, but they aren't writing a check for the purchase price that year (and they don't go bankrupt)!</p>

14

<p>"Virtually all costs are incremental on a per student basis."</p>

<p>Library costs are not incremental on a per student basis. Most maintenance costs, especially those having to do with maintaining equipment, are not incremental on a per student basis. Grounds costs are not incremental on a per student basis. Most sports-related costs are not incremental on a student basis. Investment in facilities for graduate students often have trickle down effects to undergraduates, without being incremental on a per student basis. Running the bookstore isn't incremental a per student basis. Maintaining websites, software, etc. are not incremental on a per student basis. Food services often GAIN in quality from economies of scale, as do extracurricular programs in music and theater. </p>

<p>Class size MAY be incremental on a per student basis, or may not be. If you pay the Nobel Prize winner 10 times as much as the next professor, and he attracts only 8 times as many students, class size would be inversely related to costs.</p>

<p>Oh - and the college prez's salary is not incremental on a per student basis. </p>

<p>In rough outline, spending per student is a good thing. But as an indicator of quality, it's downright laughable, and might be increasingly so, as "costs per unit of increased quality" escalate in the upper reaches. Perhaps the simplest way to see it is to look at my d.'s college, with the largest LAC library in the U.S. No one has time to read 1.6 million books. It costs incrementally more to maintain that many books. But the incremental quality advantage from buying that next new book goes down accordingly.</p>

15

<p>"I quoted this to the senior financial analyst two offices down and he is still laughing."</p>

<p>That's because school's do not scale up all the resources as enrollment increases. For example,many schools don't scale up the number of faculty teaching undergrad courses. Many schools do not scale up the number of dorms, instead forcing large percentages of students to find housing off-campus, etc. Many schools do not scale up the number of deans, instead having fewer deans per student, etc.</p>

<p>To be sure, there are dollar savings that result from one campus security or one student health care clinic or each faculty member serving more undergrads. Whether fewer staff per student impacts the quality of the undergrad experience is the eye of beholder.</p>

16

<p>"Oh - and the college prez's salary is not incremental on a per student basis."</p>

<p>No, but the odds of the president interacting with a particular undergrad is certainly higher with smaller enrollment. As would the priority the president places on the undergrad educational experience viz-a-viz other institutional endeavors. Thus, for the average undergrad, educational "quality" may increase with the higher per student cost of the president's salary.</p>

17

<p>"Just because a financial statement passes muster from an auditor doesn't mean the numbers will be directly comparable from campus to campus."</p>

<p>The financial reporting may or may not be useful in comparing two different institutions. For example, comparing spending between a small undergrad college and a large research university with a law school and a med school is totally useless. </p>

<p>If the school has a comprehensive presentation of its financials, it's possible to get a pretty complete picture of its spending, interest (which would be the place where recent capital projects may show up in an annual operating budget). The annual reports for small undergrad-only schools are pretty straightforward as nearly every dollar they spend impacts undergrads in one way or another.</p>

<p>collegehelp: The number for Williams is just plain wrong as far as operating expense goes.</p>

18

<p>
[quote]
The annual reports for small undergrad-only schools are pretty straightforward as nearly every dollar they spend impacts undergrads in one way or another.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If that's true, then, why doesn't NCES data work the same way when comparing data for several similarly-situated residential undergrad liberal arts colleges?</p>

19

<p>"No, but the odds of the president interacting with a particular undergrad is certainly higher with smaller enrollment. As would the priority the president places on the undergrad educational experience viz-a-viz other institutional endeavors. Thus, for the average undergrad, educational "quality" may increase with the higher per student cost of the president's salary."</p>

<p>Or it may just as easily decline, with the President at a college three times the size receiving a salary just a small increment larger than that of the smaller college. Or the trustees could decide to include time with students significantly in job duties, or just as easily write it out, with no necessary relationship to the size of the student body or the Prez's salary whatsoever.</p>

<p>I think we would probably agree that Deep Springs is the best college in America.</p>

20

<p>
[quote]
If that's true, then, why doesn't NCES data work the same way when comparing data for several similarly-situated residential undergrad liberal arts colleges?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The NCES data does work if you generate a report for either total operating expenses OR if you make sure to include all of the standard reporting categories for private not-for-profit colleges so that you can see where some schools have lumped spending categories together.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<p>Based on the NCES data, Williams College reports $0 spending for the research category and the public service category. Obviously, they do spend signficant money in those areas; the report makes it more than evident that they have lumped categories into another category.</p>

<p>Amherst reports "research Spending", but $0 spending on "public service".</p>

<p>Swarthmore reports separate dollar amounts for "Research" and for "public service" -- nearly 4% of their total annual operating expense. This is money that does not show up if just limit your NCES report to a few selected categories.</p>

<p>The approach is to use the college's financial reports (or a properly defined NCES statistical search) to get the total operating expense for each school, then use Excel to calculate per student spending (you can export the proper table from NCES to a comma-delineated file).</p>

<p>Then, if you are interested in how each college spends their money, roll up your sleeves and start drilling down through the detail. A really good place to start is faculty and staff salary expense per student.</p>

<p>Don't forget the net per student charges (after financial aid). A college that charges the average student $25,000 and spends $65,000 is offering the same very attractive net value as a college that charges $15,000 and spends $55,000 or a college (like Berea) that charges $0 and spends $35,000. With very few exceptions, the schools that offer the most "value" (in pure dollars and cents) are tightly grouped at the very top of the USNEWS rankings.</p>