A methodology for determining the marginal cost per student at the Naval Postgraduate School.

• Main Author: Eckardt, John P.
• Other Authors: Terasawa, Katsuaki L.
• Language: en_US
• Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/8667

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited === The overall objective of this thesis was to develop a flexible model to determine the marginal cost of graduate education per student for each of the various curricula at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). In the past, average cost per student values were calculated. These calculations missed the nuances of the 44 different curricula (curriculum length, student loading, professor salaries, lab intensive curricula, etc.) at NPS and provided no information as to the marginal costs of graduate education. Two models resulted from the research. The Cost per Curriculum Model calculates the average cost per student for each curriculum, given selected cost inputs. The costs are allocated across the courses and then allocated to the students that took the courses. A second model, Marginal Cost per Student Model, was developed that calculates the marginal cost per student for a single curriculum, for a selected number of additional students. Both models provide the user with considerable flexibility in determining and ultimately better information regarding both the average and marginal costs of graduate education at NPS