0. Delaware Cost Study: Uses and Best Practices
John Barnshaw, Ph.D.
Director, Higher Education Consortia
Tom Eleuterio, M.S.
Research Analyst, Higher Education Consortia

1. What is the Delaware Cost Study?
The National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity (Delaware Cost Study) is a benchmarking project and data sharing consortia among four-year colleges and universities with over 200 institutions participating annually.
Since 1996, over 600 institutions have participated, and over the past two decades, the Delaware Cost Study has become the “tool of choice” for comparative analysis of faculty teaching loads, direct instructional costs, and separately budgeted scholarly activity, within academic disciplines.
Currently, the Cost Study is used major data and state agencies including:
Association of American Universities Data Exchange (AAUDE)
Southern Universities Group (SUG)
University of North Carolina (UNC) System
Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PaSSHE)
University of Missouri System
University of Nebraska System
Connecticut State University System (CSUS)
City University of New York (CUNY) System

2. Delaware Cost Study – Strengths and Limitations
Ideal tool for benchmarking instructional costs, research, and public service expenditures at the academic discipline level
Most systematic and rigorous conceptualization based on CIP levels
Assists institutional data and unit alignment
Assists in identifying cost distortions
Ideal for program reviews and accreditation
Ideal for establishing new program or department projections
Higher Education Consortia is a useful intermediary partner
Limitations
Not a “whole cost” benchmarking tool for expenditure or tuition
Not a perfect 1:1 Program/Department/Academic Budget Unit match
Not a tool for performance funding

3. Growing the Delaware Cost Study

4. Delaware Cost Study Representation

5. Delaware Cost Study Representation by Institutional Control

6. Why do institutions participate in the Delaware Cost Study?
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 76 – 82 percent of the variation in cost is located at the academic disciplinary level.

7. Delaware Cost Study Data Uses
Academic/Accreditation Program Review
Faculty Hiring/Disparity
Chair Key Performance Indicators
Deans Dashboard
Senior Budgeting/President/Provost Planning/Projections
Identifying Cost Distortions in Budgeting Formulas
Developing New Programs/Departments
Grants and Research Expenditure Benchmarking
External Audit/System Review Tool
Student/Faculty Recruitment/Retention Tool
General Unit and Institutional Improvement

8. Assessing Student Credit Hour Production and Direct Instructional Expenditure
Direct Instructional Expenditure per FTE Faculty as Percentage of Carnegie Classification
Student Credit Hours per FTE Faculty as Percentage of Carnegie Classification
Low
Moderate
High
Theater
Physics, Chemical Engineering
Criminal Justice, Political Science
Biology, Music
Chemistry
Communication, English, History, Psychology, Sociology
Mathematics

9. Benchmarking Instructional Activity – Psychology

10. Select Comparators - AAU Comparator Data with Carnegie Classification

11. Delaware Cost Study – Consortium Participation (Same Department)
Institution Type
Program
Total SCH for
T/TT FTE Faculty as % of Norm
DIE/SCH ($) as
% of Norm
R&PS ($) for
Research Very High
BMD
67.10%
173.33%
284.36%
Research High
102.78%
122.78%
41.87%
Doctoral Research
90.68%
100.00%
119.56%
Master’s Large BM
97.88%
103.38%
810.92%
Master’s Medium B
102.12%
81.76%
0.00%
Baccalaureate Arts & Sciences
121.92%
121.08%
Baccalaureate Diverse
107.76%
106.63%

12. Delaware Cost Study – Consortium Participation (Same Department)

13. 2014 – 2015 Data Collection Cycle
August 15, Invitation to Participate (Enrollment/Cycle Opens)
October/November 2014 Work with Systems/New Member Institution ($1,000 “Early Bird” Ends October 31)
December/January 2014 Work with Members in Data Collection Process
January 30, Submission of Data (Enrollment Closes)
($1,250 Participation Fee Ends)
Spring Verify and Validate Data Submissions
June 30, Assemble Final Cost Study Data Set
July 31, Secure Site Data Release (Cycle Closes)

14. Future Directions: Higher Education Consortia
Over the past year, the Higher Education Consortia has worked with four-year colleges, universities, and systems to facilitate unit and institutional improvement on a limited basis. These services are now available to all institutions and systems.
Data Alignment
Statistical Solutions (Data Mining, OLS, HLM, SEM, PSM, MCS, Survival)
Academic Program Review
Internal and External Benchmarking
Enrollment Management/Modeling
Institutional Effectiveness Workshops/In-Service Solutions
Special Projects

15. Addressing Your Questions and Comments
What questions do you have at this time?

16. Peer Ratio Access – Institutional Login
Once you have logged institutionally, click on “Peer Analysis” and then “Peer Ratio Data.”

17. Peer Ratio Access – Institutional Login
Once you have selected “Peer Ratio Data,” select ten or more institutions, the results will be generated in a manner that can be viewed and/or downloaded into Microsoft Excel. Additional instruction are on the right of the page.

18. Take Away: The Delaware Cost Study is a resource.
The Delaware Cost Study is a useful tool for providing comparative analysis of faculty teaching loads, direct instructional costs, and separately budgeted scholarly activity, all within academic disciplines.
Delaware Cost Study is useful for data alignment, system integration, unit improvement, and institutional effectiveness.
A failure to monitor these variables may lead to expenditure distortion in planning and budget models (ABB, RCM, PBB, ZBB).
Cost Study data (courses taught, research and public service expenditures) may be useful for Academic Program Reviews (APR).
Cost Study data may be useful for proposing, planning and developing new departmental programs.

19. What types of data are collected in the Cost Study?
Table 1 - Presents the proportional distribution of student credit hours and organized class sections according to the type of faculty teaching them for each course level.
Table 2 - Presents the proportional distribution of student credit hours and organized class sections taught according to course level for regular faculty.
Table 3 - Summarizes the fall term faculty workload using the average student credit hours, average organized class sections, and average FTE students taught per FTE instructional faculty for each faculty type.
Table 4 - Summarizes direct instructional costs per student credit hour and per FTE student taught using the total student credit hours generated during the academic year and the fiscal year expenditure data. Personnel cost as percent of the total direct instructional cost is also presented. Other cost indicators, expenditures from separately budgeted research and public service, are given per FTE tenured/tenure-track faculty.

20. Delaware Cost Study Sample Institutional Report - Table 4

21. Five Most Common Considerations on Delaware Cost Study
Dual Listed Courses: Parse out the SCH and OCS based on how students registered (POSC 410/610- Undergrad v. Grad).
Cross Listed Courses: Assign SCH to the department funding the instructor’s salary (POSC220/WOMS220).
Team Taught Courses: Assign SCH based on workload for each instructor.
Joint Appointments: Split FTE and SCH based on funding split (40% POSC v. 60% ECON).
Online Courses: Report if funded by instructional budget, count their SCH and OCS in same discrete way as if taught in-person.

22. Data Checklist: Special Considerations
Separately Budgeted FTE: Portion of the total FTE that is funded by external or separately budgeted funds for purposes other than teaching (Research, Service, Administration).
Supplemental Faculty: if no FTE assigned, recommend using their teaching credit hours divided by 12 (e.g. 2 three-credit courses = 6/12 = 0.5 FTE.
Teaching Assistants: Gather FTE of TAs from your HR data, then use Supplemental Faculty instructions to assign FTE for those TAs teaching credit-bearing courses where they are instructor of record. Then subtract these credit-bearing FTE from the total TA FTE to determine the non-credit bearing TA FTE.