March 5, 2003 The Honorable John A. Boehner U.S. ... - NACUBO

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Recommendations for the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Actto the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforcetions enabling them to share the cost of these transactions. The expected outcomes are reducedcosts, increased efficiency in delivery programs, and a model that could serve as a prototype forall institutions that participate in Title IV programs.Technology Endowment Challenge Grant Program. NACUBO recognizes the technology infrastructureneeds of colleges and universities that serve predominantly low-income and underservedgroups of students. NACUBO recommends that Congress authorize the Secretary ofEducation to establish a performance-based endowment grant program that would tie investmentearnings to technology improvements at institutions with the greatest need of developinglong-term investment income. The program would help institutions learn to raise and manageendowment funds, while investing endowment income in a vital element: technology for theeducation delivery process. We believe that this program would help strengthen HBCUs, HSIsand TCUs by promoting technology infrastructure improvements. The program would beavailable to accredited institutions of higher education that provide undergraduate educationprograms to traditionally underserved populations and have minimal endowments. Eligibleinstitutions would receive matching grants at a 1:1 ratio from the federal government up to acertain amount.Facilities Inventory. NACUBO believes that the beginning of the new century is a natural timeto take an inventory of campus facilities. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)has not surveyed higher education institutions about their physical facilities in more than 30years. Our nation’s educational and research facilities represent an enormous investment, farexceeding the value of all educational endowments combined. This is an important measure ofthe size of our enterprise, and the cost of maintaining and modernizing facilities is a significantdrain on resources.Research by APPA and NACUBO in the late 1980s and mid-90s showed that colleges and universitiesface an enormous deferred maintenance backlog. A comprehensive facility inventoryby type, capacity, age, and usage is important to policy decisions that impact the ability of collegesand universities to continue to meet the educational needs of the nation.NACUBO recommends that Congress authorize the Secretary of Education to conduct a comprehensivesurvey of campus facilities to quantify the size of college and university capital investments,analyze growth patterns in the last 30 years, and provide benchmarks for spaceutilization. An NCES inventory would also facilitate a much-needed analysis of the age andcondition of higher education facilities, and future needs for modernization.National Association of College and University Business Officers 10
Recommendations for the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Actto the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the WorkforceAppendix AStandard Statistical Measures of Inflation, College Costs and Prices 1Consumer Price Index--All items index. The All Items index is the most commonly usedmeasure of inflation. The index measures the average change in the cost of a fixed groupof goods and services purchased by consumers each month. The relative importance ofthe college tuition and fees component is about one percent. The CPI measures the averagepurchases of all consumers including those that do not “purchase” higher educationfor themselves or their children.Consumer Price Index--College tuition and fees index. This component of the CPImeasures expenditures for undergraduate and post-graduate studies at degreeconferringinstitutions. The index does not include room and board, books and supplies,transportation, and other student expenditures related to attendance.Higher Education Price Index. The former U.S. Office of Education developed the HEPIindex in 1975. The index reflects the price level of goods and services colleges and universitiespurchase for current education operations, excluding research. It uses a “fixedbasket” approach and includes salary and wage data, fringe benefits, contracted services,utilities and other purchased goods and services.College Board Trends in College Pricing Data. Each year the College Board reports inTrends in College Pricing statistics on the pricing of U.S. public and private nonprofitpostsecondary institutions based on its Annual Survey of Colleges. These data are widelyused to examine college prices and changes over time. Institutions report their stickerprice (or tuition and fees) that they publish for the beginning of an academic year. Averagesand rates of change for direct charges are reported on weighted (for enrollment)and unweighted bases. These data are often compared with the Consumer Price Index.Forthcoming: “Higher Education Market Basket”. The Higher Education Amendmentsof 1998 asked the Bureau of Labor Statistics (producer of the CPI) to develop a highereducation “market basket” that identifies the components of college costs. A report wasdue to Congress by September 30, 2002, but has not been submitted to date.1 See recommendation on page 2 related to increasing loan limits based on inflation.National Association of College and University Business Officers 11
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March 5, 2003 The Honorable John A. Boehner U.S. ... - NACUBO

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