<p>slithytove, if you are a professor, then you should be a trained skeptic about data and statistics. The things I see and hear are indeed data and one’s personal experiences over a long period of time enable one to perceive the truth better than the statistics you may read, or, at least enable one to use common sense and do a “reality check” about the statistics one reads. By the way, why is it ok for everyone else in this thread to extrapolate from personal experience but not me? Do you have a bias?</p>
<p>On a different topic…I did a calculation using IPEDS data to see if college expenditures on student services (not academic support) were related to graduation rates. Among public schools, the higher the proportion spent on student services relative to instructional expenses, the lower the graduation rate (correlation = -.24). Among private schools, the negative correlation was even higher (-…33). The negative relationship between spending on student services and graduation rates was especially high among private liberal arts colleges (-.38). I also found that, the more selective the school, the less spent on student services (-.32).</p>
<p>How would you explain all this? Student services does not include academic support services. I think it includes athletics and clubs. Here is how expenses are broken down by colleges for reporting to the US Department of Education.</p>
<p>Expenses by Functional Classification </p>
<p>01 – Instruction – Enter the 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. 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. (FARM para. 703.4)</p>
<p>02 – Research – Enter the expenses for activities specifically organized to produce research outcomes and either commissioned by an agency external to the institution or separately budgeted by an organizational unit within the institution. The category includes institutes and research centers, and individual and project research. Do not report nonresearch sponsored programs (e.g., training programs) on this line. Training programs generally are reported on line 01 (Instruction). (FARM para. 703.5)</p>
<p>03 – Public service – Enter the expenses specifically for public service and for activities established primarily to provide noninstructional services beneficial to groups external to the institution. Examples are seminars and projects provided to the particular sectors of the community. Include expenses for community services, cooperative extension services, and public broadcasting services. (FARM para. 703.6)</p>
<p>04 – Academic support – Enter the 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 institutional program, that is, they are not part of a hospital. (FARM para. 703.7) </p>
<p>05 – Student services – Enter the 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. 703.8) </p>
<p>06 – Institutional support – Enter the expenses for the day-to-day operational support of the institution. Include expenses for general administrative services, executive direction and planning, legal and fiscal operations, administrative computing support, and public relations/development. (FARM para. 703.9) </p>
<p>08 – Net grant aid to students (net of tuition and fee allowances) - Enter on this line ONLY scholarships and fellowships recognized as expenses in your GPFS. Do not include Federal Work Study expenses on this line. Work study expenses should be reported within the function where the student worked. Whereas in the past, most student awards were recorded as expenses under this classification, most student awards are now reported as either scholarship allowances or agency transactions. Student awards, made from contributed funds or grant funds, that are under the control of the institution (the institution decides who gets the award) result in allowances that reduce tuition or auxiliary enterprise revenue. Student awards, made from grant funds, that are made to students identified by the grantor are considered agency transactions and do not result in either revenues or expenses. Scholarships and fellowships in the form of allowances applied to tuition and fees should be reported in Part C, line 09, and not included in Part E, line 08. Scholarships and fellowships in the form of allowances applied to auxiliary services should be reported in Part C, line 10, and not included in Part E, line 08. (FARM para. 703.10) </p>
<p>According to NACUBO Advisory Report 97-1 (January 17, 1997), scholarships and fellowships are “expenses to the extent that the organization incurs incremental expense in providing goods and services.” Thus payments made by the institution to students or third parties in support of the total cost of education are expenses if those payments are made for goods and services NOT provided by the institution. Examples include payments for services to third parties (including students) for off-campus housing or for the cost of board not provided by institutional contract meal plans. </p>
<p>11 – Operation and maintenance of plant - This line, in conjunction with Column 4, is used to show the distribution of operation and maintenance of plant expenses to the various functions. Enter all expenses for operations established to provide service and maintenance related to campus grounds and facilities used for educational and general purposes. Specific expenses include utilities, fire protection, property insurance, and similar items. Also included are information technology expenses related to operation and maintenance of plant activities if the institution separately budgets and expenses information technology resources (otherwise these expenses are included in institutional support). FASB institutions do not report this function on their GPFS; instead these expenses are charged to or allocated to other functions. In the column for operation and maintenance of plant (column 4), enter (as a negative amount) on this line the total amount of operation and maintenance of plant expenses allocated to the other functions. (FARM para. 703.14)</p>