From my own experience working in Institutional Research for the past seven years, there is not a proper, reliable, and comprehensive model for forecasting student enrolment quickly. In many funding formulas, enrolment is the main driver of government grants and student tuition fees, which are sources of income to the university. Existing enrolment management tools developed within Institutional Research departments tend to be “ad hoc” spreadsheets with multiple individuals manipulating them with the result that the output comes too late for departments to take remedial action in terms of their budgets and does not provide multiple scenarios in support of strategic decision-making. The purpose of this study is to describe a functional automated enrolment projection system methodology I developed from scratch through a case study of the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto. My primary research was to actually build the model. The model in effect, is the thesis. The system provides multiple scenarios that allow senior management in a multi-campus university system to generate multiple income scenarios, enabling them to make well-informed decisions concerning the operation of their institution and timely calculation and allocation of resources to academic departments. The study then shows how this addresses the problems of “ad hoc” approaches, and how it may be applied in other situations.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / David C. Thompson / The purpose of this study was to determine what school leaders believe is a suitable funding level for Kansas school districts and to simulate the effect and cost of selected findings. More specifically, three questions were examined: How much money do top leaders in each school district in Kansas believe is needed to provide a suitable education for all students in their school district? What would be a suitable per-pupil funding level for districts when examined by varying enrollment sizes if based on the perceived needs of school district leaders in Kansas? And, what would be the statewide cost to implement a suitable per-pupil funding level for districts of varying sizes based on the expressed needs of school district leaders in Kansas? To accomplish its purpose, the study was carried out in three phases. First, it examined research in the areas of school finance equity and adequacy, both of which influence how much money is distributed to schools. Second, this study surveyed top school district leaders in Kansas in search of their opinions regarding how much money is needed to provide an adequate and suitable education. Third, survey data provided the basis for selected simulations designed to estimate the effect and cost of proposed changes on individual school districts and the state of Kansas. The results of this study show that school district leaders widely believe more money is needed to meet performance mandates for regular education students, at-risk students, and bilingual students. When considering only regular education students, this study found that school leaders believe the state of Kansas is underfunding schools by $577 million. In addition, this study shows that at-risk students need an additional $246.6 million to be provided an adequate education, while bilingual student show nearly another $18 million of need. Some school districts in Kansas have managed to offset the perceived under-funding by utilizing local tax options beyond base state funding. These local options, however, are subject to voter approval and lead to concern by some over equitable and adequate funding for all school districts in Kansas.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies & Human Services / Sonya L. Britt / Briana S. Nelson-Goff / The current three essay dissertation researched the financial behaviors of military service members before and after deployment using primary data collected at a Midwestern U.S. Army installation. The introduction (Chapter 1) reviewed the two financial surveys administered to Soldiers before (N = 701) and after (N = 670) they left for a yearlong deployment to a war zone. The first essay (Chapter 2) explored the financial behaviors, financial knowledge, and financial anxiety as they relate to rank and deployment. The results suggested that financial behaviors after deployment (Time 2) were significantly better than financial behaviors before deployment (Time 1). Rank had a positive effect on increased subjective financial knowledge where all ranks above privates (E1 to E2) had greater financial knowledge. Privates first class, specialists, and corporals (E3 to E4) had significantly lower financial knowledge than their direct supervisors, sergeants and staff sergeants (E5 to E6). Finally, Soldiers reported more financial anxiety before deployment (Time 1) than after deployment (Time 2). Using the framework of social learning theory, the second essay (Chapter 3) expanded the research of military financial behaviors before deployment to more fully understand stress and other factors that influence financial behavior outcomes. Results suggested that past behaviors and some personal factors played a significant role in Soldiers’ financial behaviors. Higher levels of subjective financial knowledge, more internal locus of control, and lower levels of financial anxiety all had a positive effect on financial behavior outcomes. The past behaviors variable had the most explanatory value in Soldiers’ financial behaviors before deployment. Soldiers with any amount of credit card debt had worse financial behaviors compared to Soldiers with no credit card debt, while Soldiers with greater amounts of emergency financial savings were more likely to have better financial behaviors than those who did not have any emergency financial savings. The final essay (Chapter 4) studied the factors that influenced financial behavior outcomes of both Soldiers and college students. This essay used primary data from a college student sample to compare to the before deployment (Time 1) survey data of Soldiers. Findings reported that past behaviors and some personal factors played a significant role in the financial behavior outcomes. Soldiers and college students with higher levels of subjective financial knowledge, more internal locus of control, and lower financial anxiety reported positive financial behaviors The most explanatory concept was that of past behaviors, which revealed that participants with no credit card debt had better financial behaviors compared to respondents who had any level of credit card debt. The conclusion (Chapter 5) highlights the findings of all three essays, which contribute both to the financial behavior literature. These papers also contribute to the research on the personal financial matters of service members. The research has direct implications for policy makers, military leaders, service providers, and financial planners and counselors.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Kristy L. Pederson-Archuleta / Viewership of reality television has been indicated to influence behaviors among individuals and groups, as existing literature has linked reality television viewership to an increase in the likelihood of demonstrating other non-financial behaviors. The literature notes increases in risky sexual and dating behavior, increases in tobacco, drug, and alcohol use, and increases in violent behavior. This dissertation examined the perceptions of the influence of reality television on financial behavior. Situational reality television programming was found to have the greatest influence on the financial behaviors of college students. Ten college students were interviewed using a phenomenological qualitative approach. There were four primary findings from this study. The first was that reality television has the ability to inform the financial behavior of college students. Second, an individual’s connection to his or her social system has an influence on financial behavior. Third, reality television does have the ability to influence financial behavior change and fourth, reality television influences the meaning of money as perceived by the respondents. The results of this study provide valuable information to promote further inquiry as to how reality television and other forms of media influence financial behavior.