1. You Have Questions We Have Answers-- The National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity
Tom Eleuterio
Manager, Higher Education Consortia
Office of Institutional Research & Planning
University of Delaware
2016 Cycle of the Study

2. The Delaware Study History
Begun in 1992 with 15 research universities, 16 doctoral universities, and 65 comprehensive and baccalaureate institutions to address “Who is Teaching What to Whom, and at What Cost?”
With funding from TIAA-CREF and Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), the Study’s instrumentation and methodology was refined and enhanced in mid-1990s.
Currently embraces over 220 four-year colleges and universities across the country with over 700 participants across twenty years of the study.
Is the tool of choice for benchmarking detailed information of teaching loads, instructional costs, and externally funded scholarship at the academic discipline level of analysis.

3. Focus on Academic Discipline is Not a Trivial Issue
A study done for NCES in 2003 found that over 80 percent in the variation in instructional costs across four-year colleges and universities is accounted for by the disciplines that comprise the curriculum at those institutions.
Research in conjunction with the Education Policy Initiatives at the University of Michigan and University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill to update the 2003 study.

4. The Typical Delaware Study Participant Pool In Any Given Year
75 to 95 Research High and Research Highest Carnegie Class Universities
25 to 30 Research Moderate Universities
85 to 105 Comprehensive Institutions
15 to 20 Baccalaureate Institutions
Note: The Delaware Study utilizes the 2015 Carnegie Classification categories and the 1995 Carnegie Institutional Taxonomy. For analytical purposes with the data covered by the study, the 1995 taxonomy is the most meaningful version.

5. The Delaware Study has emerged as an important reporting tool for a diverse group of constituents
AAU Data Exchange
SUNY & CUNY Universities
Southern Universities Group Data Exchange
PASSHE Universities
University of North Carolina System
Tennessee Board of Regents
University of Missouri System
Alaska University System
University of Nebraska System

6. Delaware Study Benchmarks are Produced for All Participating Institutions
By Carnegie Institutional Type
By Highest Degree Offered
By Relative Emphasis on Undergraduate versus Graduate Instruction

7. The Delaware Study benchmarks detailed teaching load data…
By faculty category (tenured/tenure track, other regular faculty; supplemental faculty; graduate teaching assistants)
By level of instruction (lower division undergraduate; upper division undergraduate; graduate)
By student credit hours and organized class sections taught

8. Benchmark Data for Measuring Teaching Loads
Undergraduate Student Credit Hours Taught per FTE Faculty
Graduate Student Credit Hours Taught per FTE Faculty
Total Student Credit Hours Taught per FTE Faculty
Total Organized Class Sections Taught per FTE Faculty
FTE Students Taught per FTE Faculty

9. Benchmark Data for Measuring Fiscal Variables
Direct Instructional Expense per Student Credit Hour Taught
Direct Instructional Expense per FTE Student Taught
Separately Budgeted Research and Service Expenditures per FTE Tenured and Tenure Track Faculty

10. In Addition to the Standard Delaware Study Benchmarks…
You may request up to 5 peer analyses, each comprised of at least 10 participating institutions. Each peer analysis contains the same benchmarks as in the full Delaware Study analysis.
You receive access to the Delaware Study’s secure website, and to the basic data set from which the national benchmarks were generated. You may massage these data to generate further analyses.

11. The Delaware Study Data Collection Web Portal

12. Three-year benchmark of key cost metric indicators

13. Let’s look at a practical example of using the Delaware Study data…

14. The Provost chooses to focus on tenured/tenure track faculty when examining data from the Delaware Study
Direct instructional costs are 85% to 90% on average driven by faculty salaries.
Tenured and tenure track faculty are “fixed costs.” They are essentially with us until retirement.
Tenured and tenure track faculty are the most visible of faculty categories.
What is the return on investment?

15. We provide the Provost with data from multiple years of the Delaware Study, looking at the University indicators as a percentage of the national benchmark for research universities.
The Provost receives a single sheet for each academic department, with graphs reflecting numerous indicators.

16. Sample Benchmarking Disability Studies Department

17. Using Delaware Study Data at the Institutional Level
From its inception, the Delaware Study has had as its primary function that of being a management tool for provosts, deans, and department chairs to assess the relative position of their academic departments and programs vis-à-vis those at appropriate comparator institutions.
The Delaware Study is not intended to be used as a tool to reward or penalize programs, but rather to focus on strategies for program improvement.

18. The NCES Study
Examined data from three Delaware Study data collection cycles – 1998, 2000, and 2001 – for 25 disciplines typically found at four year colleges and universities.
The initial hypothesis was that Carnegie institutional classification would be a significant cost driver, i.e., research universities would teach fewer credit hours at higher cost than doctoral universities, which in turn would teach less and at higher cost than either comprehensive or baccalaureate institutions.
Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the variance in instructional cost across the institutions that participated in each of the three data collection cycles.

19. Delaware Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity

20. Cost metric comparisons for Arts & Sciences 2014 data

21. Cost per Student Credit Hour Taught in Selected Disciplines

22. Cost per Student Credit Hour Taught in Selected Disciplines

23. Delaware Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity
The volume of teaching activity, as measured by student credit hours taught, is a major expense factor. As one might expect, given a relatively constant faculty size, expense decreases as the volume of teaching increases.
Department size, as measured in terms of total number of faculty, is consistently associated with expense. The larger the department, the higher the cost.
The proportion of a departmental faculty holding tenure is associated with expense. Since tenured faculty are “fixed costs,” not surprisingly the higher the proportion of tenured faculty, the higher the cost.

24. Delaware Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity
A surprising finding was that, while the presence of graduate level instruction is associated with higher expense, the measured effect of this variable on the magnitude of cost is smaller than teaching volume, department size, and tenure rate.
It is frequently assumed that disciplines such as engineering and the physical sciences are expensive, in part, owing to the equipment-intensive nature of those disciplines. While measurable, the extent to which expense is associated with personnel cost, as opposed to equipment cost, has less impact on the magnitude of expense than teaching volume, department size, and tenure rate.

25. Major Findings from the NCES Study
Across almost all disciplines, the volume of teaching activity, measured in student credit hours taught, is always associated with direct instructional expense. Cost decreases as the volume of teaching increases.
Department size, measured in terms of total number of faculty, and total number of tenured and tenure track faculty, is consistently associated with cost across the disciplines. The larger the faculty size, the higher the cost.

26. Major Findings from the NCES Study
The proportion of total faculty who are tenured or who are on tenure track is associated with cost. The higher that proportion, the higher the cost.
Among variables that measure faculty teaching workload, the mean number of student credit hours taught per FTE faculty is the most common cost factor across the disciplines. The larger the average number of student credit hours taught, the lower the cost.

27. We invite you to visit the Delaware Study website:

28. As useful and comprehensive as quantitative instructional ratios and benchmarks are…..
They do not address the non-classroom dimensions of faculty activity in an institution and its academic programs.
It is possible that quantitative productivity and cost indicators for a given program/discipline may differ significantly from other institutional, peer, and national benchmarks for wholly justifiable reasons of quality that can be reflected in what faculty do outside of the classroom.
This cannot be determined unless measurable indicators of quality are collected.

29. Expanding the Delaware Study
Those working with the Delaware Study over the years are highly sensitive to the possibility of misinterpretation of benchmark data.
It is quite conceivable that a department may have teaching loads well below national benchmarks, and instructional costs well above, and pride itself on those measures for purely qualitative reasons.
To be sure, what faculty do outside of the classroom – instructional support, scholarship, and service - substantively contributes to the quality of an academic program, but may also significantly impact how much faculty teach, and at what expense.

30. Expanding the Delaware Study
The University of Delaware, which received a major FIPSE grant in to underwrite the teaching load/cost portion of the Delaware Study, received a second FIPSE grant to expand data collection to include measures of out-of-classroom faulty activity.
The core activity in the current FIPSE grant, as was the case with the earlier grant, is the use of an Advisory Committee to develop data definitions, data collection instruments, and calculation conventions. The Committee is comprised of faculty, institutional researchers, and other experts in measuring what faculty do.

31. Is Faculty Work Understood?
National Center for Education Statistics indicate that full-time faculty at four-year institutions report they spend approximately one-half of their time on teaching activities, which includes approximately 10 hours per week in the classroom (Zimbler, 2001).
The term “work load” is often thought to refer to the time faculty spend in the classroom. However, work load relates to faculty work and the numerous associated activities and responsibilities in and out of the classroom (Braskamp & Ory, 1994).

32. Consider…. NSOPF survey results indicate:
(1999) full-time instructional faculty report they spend approximately 53% of their time on teaching activities including 10 hours per week in the classroom (NCES; Zimbler, 2001).
(2004) full-time instructional faculty report they spend 58% of their time on teaching activities, including approximately 9 hours per week in the classroom (NCES; Cataldi, Bradburn, Fahimi, Zimbler, 2005).
These data suggest while faculty may be spending more time on teaching activities, they spend slightly less time in the classroom.

33. But, the public sees….
“It’s 10 a.m. Do you know where your professors are?”
(Wilson, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2001)
A Boston University professor of Spanish was quoted saying, “I don’t get paid for hanging around my office. I get pay increases for preparing for classes and because I publish books and articles and reviews” (p. 10).
“It’s not unusual for professors in English, history, modern languages, political science, and philosophy, for example, to come to campus only two or three days a week. The rest of the time professors spend writing at home or conducting research in libraries, archives, and museums – both local and afar. That’s true not only for B.U. professors, but for those at research universities across the country” (p.11).

34. Who Else Is Interested in Faculty Workload?
Those who fund higher education:
State legislatures
Federal government
Students and parents
Higher education trustees and administrators
Faculty themselves

35. 2002-2006 Faculty Activity Study - Purpose
Help alleviate misunderstandings of faculty activity by providing information to discuss what faculty actually do, how much they do, and the associated products.

36. Summarizing the Findings
Certain factors are associated with the magnitude of direct instructional cost. These include volume of student credit hours taught, department size in terms of full time equivalent faculty, and tenure rate. However, before manipulating these factors in any draconian fashion to contain costs, it must be underscored that faculty engage in activities other than teaching that have significant value to students, the institution, and the larger society.
Faculty are typically involved in out-of-classroom activities such as curriculum re-design, academic advising, thesis/dissertation supervision, academic scholarship, and service to the profession/institution/community.
Emphasis on various types of out-of-classroom faculty activity generally reflect institutional choices related to mission and to the balance between and among teaching, research, and service.

37. FACT Study The Faculty Activity Trifecta
The Higher Education Consortia is currently conducting research to develop a comprehensive measure of disciplinary instruction, scholarship, and service. This measure will be used to launch the Faculty ACtivity Trifecta (FACT) study, which will offer four-year colleges and universities a more complete understanding of their faculty’s activity.
Please contact Jennifer Snyder at for additional information.

38. Closing Thoughts
It is also incumbent upon institutions to manage their resources, including faculty teaching loads.
Benchmarking tools such as the Delaware Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity assist provosts and department chairs in assessing their resources in comparison with peer departments and other departments to which they aspire.
Colleges and universities must be proactive in describing how and why they deploy human and fiscal resources in the manner in which they do.

39. Historical Resources
Middaugh, M.F. (2001). Understanding faculty productivity: Standards and benchmarks for colleges and universities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Middaugh, M.F., Graham, R., & Shahid, A. (2003). A study of higher education instructional expenditures: The Delaware Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity. (NCES Publication No ). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: Institute of Education Sciences.
Middaugh, M.F., & Isaacs, H.K. (2005). Benchmarking departmental activity via a consortial approach: The Delaware Study. In J.E. Groccia & J.E. Miller (Eds.), On Becoming a Productive University: Strategies for Reducing Costs and Increasing Quality in Higher Education (pp ). Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company, Inc.
Middaugh, M.F. (2005). Understanding higher education costs. Planning for Higher Education, 33(3), 5-18.

40. Please feel free to contact me: Tom Eleuterio, tommyu@udel.edu
For additional information
Please feel free to contact me:
Tom Eleuterio,