Costing and Data Management: Development of a Simplified System for Smaller Colleges and Universities

This article describes the process by which a useful costing and data management system was developed at Chapman College, which may be of general interest to other small colleges and universities. A participatory process was used to develop the system involving key people in the determination of what should be reported by the system. The system summarizes information on instructional workloads, class sizes, and the costs per student credit hour for academic programs. Costs analyzed include not only direct operating costs of each program, but also costs incurred in other areas to support each program.