Cost per Student
Total institutional expenditure divided by total student headcount
What is Cost per Student?
Cost per student is the total operating cost of an educational institution divided by the number of students enrolled. It shows how much it costs to educate each student.
It is used for budgeting, benchmarking and funding discussions, though costs differ widely by subject and level.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Finance
- Sub-function
- Cost Efficiency
- Industry
- Education
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- Financial control
- Unit
- $
- Measurement frequency
- Annual
- Formula
- Total institutional operating costs / Total enrolled student headcount
How to calculate it
Divide total institutional operating costs by total enrolled student headcount.
For example, if a college has operating costs of 60,000,000 and 8,000 students, the cost per student is 7,500.
Compare like with like, since science and clinical courses cost far more than others, and consider using full-time equivalents.
Where it is used
Budgeting
Plan costs with enrolment.
Benchmarking
Compare with similar institutions.
Reviewing efficiency
Find savings.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Lowest cost per student is not the aim.
- Use full-time equivalents where relevant.
- Compare with similar institutions.
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