A Few More End-of-Year Thoughts About Branch Campuses
Continuing my end-of-the-year observations, I urge you to spend a lot of time studying your budget. Take a close look at the gross revenue generated at your campus, as well as your direct costs of delivery. (By direct costs I mean actual costs of instruction, local staff and facilities. Do not include any overhead or other charges levied by the main campus.) In most cases that I’ve seen, the net revenue per student credit hour is significantly positive. In fact, generally, the net revenue is higher at branches than at a residential main campus, precisely because the branch has a more focused, limited mission. Your main campus finance people may insist that you consider allocated costs from the main campus, such as for admissions and financial aid support, registrar, and so on. For some purposes they are absolutely correct, but at the same time, you should know that the overhead you pay (or the branch income they keep) probably...