Instructional Economics: Making Finance-Informed Decisions on Programs and Courses
Financial sustainability is a critical issue for institutions and their accreditors, but most institutions are missing critical data: they do not know the economics of their courses and programs. Worse still, many rely heavily on cost data to inform their decisions, while neglecting the revenue and margin that programs may generate. We will share a methodology for calculating revenue, cost and margin for academic courses and programs–data that should inform any decision on cutting or adding faculty and the courses and programs they teach. We will demonstrate portfolio, program, course, and section — level analytics that provide actionable insights to inform decisions. We will also discuss strategies for incorporating the data into program and course decision-making at your institution.
Learning Objectives:
- How to build systems that analyze course, program and departmental economics
- How to use data on instructional economics to improve course scheduling and staffing decisions
- How to avoid counter-productive cost cuts that ultimately reduce margins and make budget problems worse
- How to communicate about program and course economics with faculty and deans, so they support the analysis and integrate it into their decision-making and implementation processes
Speaker Panel:
Jason Osborne
Provost and EVP for Academic Affairs
Miami University
Richard Matasar
SVP Strategic Initiatives and Institutional Effectiveness
Tulane University
Bob Atkins
CEO and Founder
Grey Associates
