Do you ever wonder if you are getting the most out of your full-time faculty? Your faculty would likely say they have plenty to keep them busy, but are you maximizing their time?
Let’s take a look at our fictional Contemporary University’s Math Department.
Compared to benchmarks, Contemporary U’s undergraduate Math courses do not have a similar full-time cost structure. Contemporary U allocates more full-time math faculty resources to upper-level math: 32% vs. 6%. Even more pronounced is the lack of full-time resources dedicated to 100-level math: 16% vs. 78%.
Since Contemporary U’s 100-level math is largely adjunct-taught, these courses are half the cost per student credit hour (SCH) than benchmarks… but the DFW rate is almost three times higher than benchmarks.
Unsurprisingly, the Math department serves students across the institution. At the 100-level, less than 1% of student credit hours are produced by Math majors. Conversely, 68% of 400-level Math SCH are produced by Math majors. Note that only 2% of SCH taught in the Math department are generated at the 400-level. In essence, you are concentrating your highest-cost faculty resources across a very small percentage of total student credit hours, and your lowest-cost resources across a very large percentage of student credit hours.
So, what does it all mean? It looks like Contemporary U may have an opportunity to improve student outcomes and improve cost per SCH efficiency by redeploying their full-time faculty more evenly across course levels in the Math department.
This analysis of Contemporary University’s Math Department reveals a compelling opportunity to use benchmarking to optimize resource allocation. By strategically shifting full-time faculty towards lower-level courses, Contemporary University can potentially improve student success, reduce DFW rates, and enhance cost efficiency. This data-informed approach to faculty deployment empowers provosts, presidents, and CFOs to make informed decisions that positively impact both academic outcomes and institutional budgets.
Curious to discover how even the smallest changes to your resource allocation can lead to big impacts on your institution’s financial health? Check out our recent blog, Uncovering Hidden Economic Opportunities: Cost per SCH.
