A study of revenues and expenditures in community colleges grouped by size, control, and curricular balance

Abstract

Community college finances have been the subject of many studies, but few have utilized large national samples. This study utilized a sample of 707 community colleges, almost 70 percent of those in operation during 1973-74. This study was designed to investigate the relationships of three pertinent characteristics (size, control, and curricular balance) to the distribution of revenues by source and expenditures by function in community colleges. It was hypothesized that there would be no statistically significant differences among community colleges grouped by size, control, and curricular balance in terms of the proportion of total Educational and General revenues: (a) received from each major revenue source and (b) consumed by each major expenditure function.

The hypotheses were tested by a series of three-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs). A 3x3x3 design was used in which the independent variables (size, control, and curricular balance) were each reduced to three levels. Based upon full time equivalent enrollments, size levels were: Small (below 751), Average (751-1950), and Large (1951 and above). Control was reduced to three levels which corresponded to self-reported institutional control: State (state government), Local (local government), and Coordinated (state and local government partnership).

Finally, curricular balance was reduced to three levels based upon the proportion of occupational program degree and other formal award recipients in 1973-74: Transfer (below 44%), Balanced (44-69%), and Occupational (over 69%). A series of nine ANOVAs, using a revenue or expenditure measure as the dependent variable, were run. Statistically significant group mean differences were tested further by the Studentized-Newman-Keuls posteriori contrast test. The statistical analyses provided the following results:

a. Size was related to the proportion of revenues received from federal and local government sources and to the proportion of expenditures for administration and libraries. b. Control was related to the proportion of revenues received from state and local government sources and to the proportion of expenditures for libraries and operation and maintenance of physical plant. c. Curricular balance was related to the proportion of expenditures for libraries and operation and maintenance of physical plant.

The discussion of results presented several conclusions, implications, and recommendations for further research. Two major policy implications, dealing with the concepts of differential funding and differential tuition, were highlighted as very timely financial issues for community colleges. While several recommendations for further research were suggested, three specific recommendations were stressed:

a. Additional analyses of community college revenues are required. b. Additional analyses of community college expenditures are required. c. The concepts of differential funding and differential tuition should be explored more fully to determine the impact of implementing such concepts upon community colleges.

Inherent in the suggested topics for further research was the conviction, as strengthened by the results of this study, that new imaginative designs must be attempted to supplement the knowledge base which has been built from traditional approaches to the study of community college finances.