The purpose of this study was to ascertain the relationship of a college publication, the Ball State Alumnus, and selected variables on the amount of financial support provided to a university by the graduates. The data for analysis were obtained from survey instruments designed for this study and were administered to 555 Bachelor of Arts degree recipients who in 1969-70, had given a monetary contribution to Ball State University.The final population numbered 495 alumni, ten of whom were eliminated for various reasons. Analyzing the survey instrument data was accomplished by a computor programed for the chi square test of independence. To be significant, the results had to fall within .01 or .05 level of probability.The research was planned to answer sixteen questions. The variables considered for comparison with the amount of monetary contribution to a university by its alumni included the following: age; sex; marital status; reading quantity of publication; time spent reading publication; number of readers in family; reasons for contributing (affective dimension); occupational status of alumni; total family income; recency of alumni graduation; number of family members who graduated or attended the university; promotion of the university to high school students, businessmen, and Congressmen and State Legislators; and campus visitations. Contributions were categorized as follows: $1 to $9; $10 to $24; $25 to $49; $50 to $99; and $100 to $499. A comparison was made of each respondent's age and time spent reading the publication as well.Of the sixteen null hypotheses examined, seven were sustained and nine were rejected.Review of data lead to the following conclusions:The amount of financial contribution given to a university by its alumni was not influenced by the reading or nonreading the alumni magazine, Ball State Alumnus. Furthermore, the length of time spent reading the publication did not influence the amount given to the institution by the graduates.Whether other family members of the alumni read or did not read the publication had little influence on the financial contribution given to the university by the alumni. The recency of graduation did not influence the amount of contribution given to their alma mater. Age of the contributor was not a factor in the amount of support. Furthermore, the marital status of contributing alumni was not an influencing factor on amount of financial support to the university.Promoting the university to high school students was not a factor in the amount of contribution given to the institution by its alumni.The affective dimension of support had a relationship with the amount of contribution provided to the university by graduates.Occupation of alumni was an influence on the amount of contribution provided the institution by its alumni. Furthermore, the yearly family income of donating alumni influenced the amount of monetary support given to the institution.A relationship existed between the amount of financial support provided the university by donating graduates and number of family members attending or graduating from the institution. The amount of contribution given to the university and the gender of contributing alumni had a relationship.A relationship existed between: amount of contribution provided the institution by its donating alumni and informing businessmen of the advantages available at Ball State University. Furthermore, a relationship existed between the amount provided the university and discussing the university needs with Congressmen and State Legislators.The number of visitations to the campus by its donating alumni had a relationship with amount of monetary support provided the university by graduates. Finally, a relationship existed between the alumni age category and the reading time devoted to the publication.

This study is designed to try to determine if faculty productivity as measured by the average number of student credit hours produced by each faculty member in selected units of two private universities of similar size is a significant variable in the financial conditions of the two institutions. The data are collected from the two institutions. The data are collected from the two institutions for the second semester of the 1970-71 academic year.

A computer model has been developed for the purpose of allocating funds, by department, within a university. This model categorizes each class as one of three types -- lecture, problem solving, or laboratory. A standard class size is assigned to each type -- 40, 25, and 10 respectively. Combining the previous years head count for each class with the credit-hour value of each class, a faculty position count for every department is generated. Administrative positions, staff positions, operating expense, and operating capital funds are calculated using various combinations of factors involving student credit hours, faculty positions, and class type. Factors used by the model were derived from historical averages as reported in the requisite literature. These factors are generally alterable by user input to meet the general requirements of the institution. Faculty salary figures were taken from the Oklahoma Salary Survey for 1984, and staff salary figures from the Career Service Salary Plan used in the State of Florida. A frequently used computer program, Lotus 1-2-3, was used to implement the model. This software package is a spreadsheet that offers limited programming capability through a facility called "keyboard macros." This function allows a transparent operation for the user; he/she simply responds to program prompts and receives a printout of model outputs. The model was verified by testing it against an actual allocation involving the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Central Florida. The pilot study was used as a means of verifying the model's reasonableness as a budgetary tool. The model-generated allocation mix was used to apportion the actual allocation for 20 departments within a college. A study was undertaken to compare and analyze differences between actual and model-generated figures. Where large variations existed, an analysis was performed to determine the cause. This model represents a step toward incorporation the concepts of fixed and variable costs into the internal allocation process and encourages the use of personal computers to assist in budgetary planning.

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Tuition and fees are a major source of income for colleges and universities and a major portion of the cost of a student's education. The university administration's task of making sound and effective tuition and fee policy decisions is becoming both more critical and more complex. This is a result of the increased reliance on student-generated tuition-and-fee income, the declining college-age student population, reductions in state and Federal funds, and escalating costs of operation. The comprehensive computerized decision support system (DSS) developed in this research enhances the administration's planning, decision-making, and policy-setting processes. It integrates data and reports with modeling and analysis in order to provide a systematic means for analyzing tuition and fee problems, at a detailed and sophisticated level, without the user having to be an expert in management science techniques or computers. The DSS with its imbedded multi-year goal programming (GP) model allocates the university's revenue requirements to charges for individual student categories based on a set of user-defined objectives, constraints, and priorities. The system translates the mathematical programming model into a valuable decision-making aid by making it directly and readily accessible to the administration. The arduous tasks of model formulation and solution, the calculation of the model's parameter values, and the generation of a series of reports to document the results are performed by the system; whereas, the user is responsible for defining the problem framework, selecting the goals, setting the targets, establishing the priority structure, and assessing the solution. The DSS architecture is defined in terms of three highly integrated subsystems - dialog, data, and models - that provide the following functions: user/system interface, program integration, process control, data storage and handling, mathematical, statistical, and financial computations, as well as display, memory aid, and report generation. The software was developed using four programming languages/systems: EXEC 2, FORTRAN, IFPS, and LINDO. While the system was developed, tested, and implemented at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the concepts developed in this research are general enough to be applied to any public institution of higher education. / Ph. D.

The comprehensive computerized decision support system developed in this research employs two techniques, computer modeling and goal programming, to assist top university financial officers in assessing the current status of funds sources and uses. The purpose of the DSS is to aid in reaching decisions concerning proposed projects, and to allocate funds from sources to uses on an aggregate basis according to a rational set of prescribed procedures. The computer model provides fast and easy access to the database and it permits the administrator to update the database as new information is received. Goal programming is used for modeling the allocation process since it provides a framework for the inclusion of multiple goals that may be conflicting and incommensurable. The goal programming model allocates funds from sources to uses based on a priority structure associated with the goals. The DSS, which runs interactively, performs a number of tasks that include: selection of model parameters, formulating goals and priority structure, and solving the GP model. It also provides on-line access to the database so that it may be updated as necessary. In addition, the DSS generates reports regarding funds allocation and goal achievements to allow analysis of the model results. The decision support system also provides a framework for experimentation with various goal and priority structures, thus facilitating what-if analyses. The user can also perform a sensitivity analysis by observing the effect of assigning different relative importance to a goal or set of goals. / Ph. D.

Thesis (DComm (Economics))--University of Stellenbosch, 1982. / The subject discussed in this dissertation is that of how universities should best be financed. This appears, prima facie, to be a readily solvable question, but is in fact one that contains innumerable disguised difficulties. Casual observation confirms that resources are allocated, which places the subject undeniably in the realm of economics. Needless to say however, much more is ultimately at stake than just the economic: educationalists, sociologists, business leaders, indeed all who come into contact with the products of universities in their many guises justifiably believe that they have a contribution to make. Nevertheless, the arguments marshalled below are unashamedly taken from the economist's arsenal, although some aspects of a wider nature are included. In particular the analysis will proceed as if economic efficiency, growth and welfare are the primary aims of society; which is not, of course, to imply that other considerations are trivial. The institutions referred to in the body of the dissertation are those commonly regarded as being the 'white' South African universities. This was necessitated by the division of the universities for administrative purposes between several government departments and the fact that the South African Post-Secondary Education (SAPSE) information system, which forms the basic structure for the empirical sections of the dissertation, has only been introduced for those universities under the jurisdiction of the Minister of National Education. Section 1.4 is devoted to tracing the historical development of this dichotomy and in Chapter 9 some of its implications are investigated. Other institutions for post-secondary education, the Technikons for example, are not dealt with specifically, although much of the analysis could be applied to them as well. As is emphasized in Section 4.5, the policy implications of this dissertation should ideally be applied to the postsecondary education sector as a whole. The primary hypothesis of this dissertation is that a system of formula financing for universities can be economically efficient without in any way encroaching upon university autonomy. This implies several subsidiary hypotheses: firstly, that a decentralized procedure for planning university education, whereby the decisions to enroll are largely left in the hands of students, can lead to economically efficient configurations; that those decisions should be made by considering the social and private costs of education, and not simply the benefits; that the private coats of (university) education are best reflected in prices, that is tuition fees; and that the structure of university costs can be discerned by observing the universities' internal optimization processes as revealed in their ex post patterns of expenditures.

M.Com. (Computer Auditing) / This study investigates the effects of the implementation and upgrade of financial Enterprise Resource Planning (hereafter ERP) systems, particularly the Oracle system, on financial reporting and audit. It also determines whether the independent external auditors play a vital role in the process of implementing internal controls in the implementation and upgrade of the Oracle system at a higher education institution (hereafter HEI). With the ever-evolving information technology, it is of utmost importance that the necessary controls be implemented. A sample of 18 Oracle system users from the HEI finance expenditure department and HEI independent external auditors is surveyed and the results of the survey are used to provide advice to organisational management on measures that should be implemented to ensure smooth systems implementation and post-implementation results. The empirical study indicates that the HEI had adequate measures and controls in place to ensure that the ERP implementation runs smoothly and threats are avoided, resulting in a successful implementation for competitive advantage in HEI.

This study seeks to determine the institutional uses of the formula system in twenty-two public four-year institutions of higher education in Texas. The study is limited to the areas of faculty salaries and departmental operating expenses. Particular effort is made to determine whether the methods used by the various institutions in allocating funds to academic departments are based upon the number of semester hours taught by each department and therefore upon the amount of funds the departments produce under the state formula system.

The world of today's higher education organizations is characterized by complexities brought about as a result of rapid change, economic and political turbulence, and increasing global interdependence. The complexity of the environment in which colleges and universities operate is also due in part to a need to serve multiple internal and external constituencies. In order to be more responsive to the demands of its numerous constituencies and at the same time preserve their intrinsic values, colleges and universities need to know how effective they are in what they do. This research asked: To what degree does institutional effectiveness allow public colleges and universities to operate in a sustained manner over a long period of time while meeting the needs of their constituencies? The lack of criteria about what constitutes effectiveness in higher education contributes to the lack of research in this area of organizational theory. This research examined organizational effectiveness and its measurement in higher education environment using a survey of multiple internal and external constituencies. The purpose of the survey was to gather information regarding participants' perceptions about educational outcomes, processes, and environment in higher education organizations. In addition, given the changes in how higher education institutions are financed and the potential implications of these changes for effectiveness, this research explored the degree to which resource dependence, primarily dependence on public funding, influences the effectiveness of public colleges and universities. To address these questions the research tested the applicability of the sustainability framework as a model of effectiveness in higher education. The study suggests modification of the elements of the sustainability and extends the use of the concept of environment as it is defined in the sustainability framework to the concept of environment as defined in organizational theory. The sustainability framework has not been tested in this way before. The results indicate that there is promise in using the sustainability framework in this modified form and suggest that this concept is worthy of further exploration. Additionally, the study examined the role of multiple constituencies in defining effectiveness in higher education. The findings indicate that there are significant differences in perceptions of effectiveness among the groups of constituencies examined in the study. Finally, the results suggest that sources of public funding and the amount of money institutions spend per student have an influence on some aspects of effectiveness. To examine this further, the study explores the role of the political and fiscal environment in which institutions of higher education operate and offers institutional theory as a basis to explain resource dependence in public higher education. The findings of this study contribute to the field of organizational effectiveness, aid in understanding the role that public funding plays in higher education effectiveness, and contribute to the field of organizational theory more generally.