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The economies of scale concept holds that as an enterprise increases its output, the cost per unit of output decreases. The concept also holds that as the production output increases further a point is reached at which the cost per unit of output increases, marking the start of diseconomies of scale. Furthermore, the concept holds whether the enterprise is a manufacturing or education institution.;Community college financial, enrollment, and award data for the ten years between 1976 through 1985 were obtained from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). Appropriate data selection produced a sample of 758 state, local, or state-local community colleges in existence for each of the 10 years between 1976 and 1985. This was nearly 80 per cent of the public community college total.;A parabolic relationship between cost per student and enrollment was hypothesized. The hypothesis was tested by using regression analysis with forced entry of the independent variable(s).;The hypothesis was not supported. Emerging from 20 models with various terms expressing direct and inverse relationships between dependent and independent variable(s), Y = (a) (X**-b) (EXP**(cX)) was the best fit. This decaying exponential model possessed the highest multiple R of any of the 20 equations tried. Furthermore, the decaying exponential, after being transformed to the natural logarithm form, met regression analysis' assumptions for the underlying data (normality, linearity, and equal variance) better than any of the 20 equations modelled.

The focus of this study was the experience of students who had successfully achieved the transition from foster care to enrollment in Virginia Community Colleges. The following questions guided the inquiry: How do students who are emancipating from foster care describe their transition to enrollment at one of the Virginia Community Colleges? What challenges do students who are emancipating from foster care face in the transition to college? What types of support do these students require to successfully transition to college?;This study used a qualitative approach to examine the transition from care of emancipated foster youth to post-secondary education. Narrative responses from semi-structured interviews with emancipating youth now enrolled in a Virginia community college provided insight into their transition from care to enrollment in college. Twelve students aged 19 to 21, participated in this study. Ethnicity of participants included one biracial student, five Caucasian students, and six Black students. Findings from the study showed the importance of the influence of a single secondary educator in each participant's experience, the importance of financial assistance, and the importance of campus/institutional support on college choice and transition from high school to college. Participants were challenged by their lack of academic preparation, lack of family privilege, and lack of understanding of the norms of college.;Keywords: college transition, foster care, college students, community college.

The purpose of this study was to describe the budget information systems of selected colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia along with their advantages and disadvantages as perceived by budget managers.;Ten institutions were selected to participate in the study so as to assure the inclusion of at least one of each of the various types of colleges and universities in Virginia. The data needed to describe the budget information systems were collected via personal interviews with key budget information system personnel at the selected institutions. Data needed to describe the advantages and disadvantages of the budget information systems, as perceived by budget managers, and to test the hypotheses were collected via personal interviews with, and mailed questionnaires to, budget managers.;To analyze the data, the researcher divided the BISs into two categories. BISs without terminals for their budget managers were designated as the first category. Those with them were designated as second.;It was found that BISs with terminals are decidedly more decentralized than BISs without them in regard to the entry of budget transfer data into the computer. The entry of purchasing and stores data into the computer tends to be more decentralized in BISs without terminals than in those with them. BISs with terminals are more decentralized than those without them in regard to the entry of accounting data. Sixty-seven percent of the BISs with terminals provide their budget managers with computerized stores form data that are no more up-to-date than that with which 75% of the BISs without terminals provide their budget managers. Budget managers of BISs with terminals have access to more up-to-date computerized budget information about requisitions than do those of BISs without terminals. Budget managers with terminals perceived their BISs as more advantageous than budget managers without terminals perceived theirs.

Writers have criticized the literature on college student involvement as being biased, starting from the premise that the residential experience is the normative one, and have called for a reexamination of the concept of student involvement. Thus in response to that need, this study explored the concept of student involvement from commuter college students' perspectives.;Focused on both Astin's theory of student involvement and Pace's work on quality of effort, it was hypothesized that there were differences between highly involved commuter college students and commuter college students who were minimally involved in the college experience. Since student involvement has both quantitative and qualitative features, the study explored the concept of student involvement by utilizing both research methods. The quantitative portion of the study applied the College Student Experiences Questionnaire. This instrument not only provided a snapshot of student involvement but also identified highly involved and minimally involved college students who served as the sample frame for the qualitative portion of the study which involved the use of field notes, semi-structures interviews, focus groups, and paper and pencil exercises.;Through a combination of a series of statistical procedures, matrix displays, content analysis, and narration, it was concluded that highly involved commuter college students differed from those students minimally involved in the college experience. Students described a variety of opportunities for involvement and perceived that the opportunity for involvement did exist on a commuter campus.;Although students who were highly involved in the college experience were diverse with regard to age, gender and other characteristics, overall, those students who were enrolled full time and were younger than 26 tended to put forth more effort toward utilizing group facilities and participating in organized activities than did part-time students and students 26 years of age or older. Furthermore, evidence was presented to suggest that a key to involvement inequities among commuter students, and between commuter and resident students may involve the difficulty in engaging in constructive peer relationships. Based on the students' experiences 13 suggestions for facilitating the involvement of commuter students were offered. Among other things it was concluded that where one lives (resident or commuter) may not be the sole determinant of one's college experience. Further research is needed with regard to this topic.

The purpose of this study is to determine what relationships exist among current fund revenues, current fund expenditures, long-term debt, and endowment value for public four-year colleges and universities, for fiscal years 1992 through 1997. An important objective of the study is to "let the data speak for itself." The research questions focused on trends among the four variables; whether long-term debt displaced some portion of current fund revenue and whether endowment value influenced this relationship; whether institutions incurred more debt when their revenues and endowment values have been increasing; and whether revenues failed to keep pace with institutions' needs and/or the Higher Education Price Index.;Exploring the relationships among revenues, expenditures, debt, and endowment value may yield important data about the influence of these variables upon one another and may help scholars and administrators develop comprehensive models to manage institutional debt and finances. The source of data for this study was the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. The data were analyzed using cluster and ratio analyses to group schools as a function of the four variables.;Current fund revenues and expenditures were approximately equal and showed modest increases after adjusting for inflation. In general, long-term debt decreased after adjusting for inflation and endowment values increased significantly. It did not appear that long-term debt was displacing any portion of current fund revenues. In general, long term debt decreased in terms of 1992 dollars and as a percentage of endowment value. After adjusting for inflation, institutions have not incurred more debt, revenues showed modest increases, endowment values showed significant increases and grew much faster than expenditures. The data suggest that revenue sources have kept pace with institutions' needs and inflation.