Unexploited Efficiencies In Higher Education
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Keywords
college attainment, efficiency, higher education, Fishbone diagram, cost-efficiency, cost-per-graduate, productivity, online education, higher education funding, innovative university, Brigham Young University-Idaho, economies of scale, credit hours
Abstract
In “Unexploited Efficiencies in Higher Education,” Henry C. Eyring, a junior majoring in Economics at Brigham Young University-Idaho, argues that one way that the U.S. can compete globally in college attainment is to decrease cost-per-graduate. He explains how many stakeholders in higher education stand to benefit from unexploited cost-efficiencies. Eyring cites strategies implemented by Brigham Young University-Idaho as examples of ways that institutions of higher education can become more cost-efficient in producing graduates. Administrators at Brigham Young University-Idaho utilize a model called the “Graduate Fishbone” that quantifies the effect of alterations to policy, retention, and instructional delivery at Brigham Young University-Idaho on cost, students served, and annual graduates produced. That model allows analysis of the efficacy of cost-efficiency promoting strategies, and is available electronically from the author upon request. An extended version of this paper with additional charts and explanation is also available electronically from the author upon request.