The Research On Educational Costs Measurement And Comparison In Base Of Information-related Theory

With the expansion of the scale of the higher education and the rising university tuition, the demand of an accurate measurement of the cost of the higher education becomes more urgent. The data of education costs is valuable for all parties concerned, its measurement is of great significance. However, the measurement of the cost of education is not an easy task. Especially in those problems of the definition, the composition and the measurement methodologies of the cost of education, theoretical circles have not reached a consensus after years of discussions and studies. There are also many misunderstanding about the conception of the cost of education in the theory and practice areas. With a mixed conception about the actual cost of the higher education and the standard cost of the higher education, the problem of the tuition pricing become more complicated in their research of the education cost measure. Cost is a multi-dimensional concept. The definition of cost varies, depending on the perspective and purpose of the author. In the use and the measurement, the conception of the cost of education can be divided to two types: one is the actual cost, and the second is the standard cost. There are important differences of the two types of education costs in the measurement methods and measurement applications. With the purpose of college cost management and cost control, the measurement object is the actual education cost which reflects the actual expenses in college. But with the purpose of tuition pricing and financial provisions of the Education, the measurement object is the standard education cost which reflects the necessary average cost level in teaching-studying activities.From the decision-making usefulness and the relevance of information, this thesis firstly discussed the multiple purposes of measuring the cost of education, and education cost information related to education cost measurement requirements. With the different cost measurement purposes, we should use different cost measurement methods. Secondly, this thesis proposed multi-purpose and multi-needs education costs under the two kinds of concepts. With the purpose of college cost management and cost control, the measurement object is the actual education cost. But with the purpose of tuition pricing and financial provisions of the Education, the measurement object is the standard education cost. Thesis comparably analyze two methods in measuring the cost of education, based on the role of the main differences were discussed. Finally, in know of the two kinds of education costs, the thesis design different measurement methods, procedures and models for the two costs of education. The measurement of the actual cost of education adopted the method of adjusted accounting reports. Depending of the existing College financial accounts data, adjusting and conversion those dates, excluding the not related cost with teaching-studying activities from the College financial accounting reports, increasing related education spending cost which have not been reflected in the College financial accounts reports,we can finally converted the college spending records to the higher education cost dates. The cost of education per student is an important form of the standard education cost. The standard education cost per student was calculated in accordance with relevant education standards proposed by the government. This method calculates the cost which a standard college student will be supposed to consume in a certain accounting period (one year), including the sum of the direct expenses and other necessary spending in fostering a "standard students". The standard education cost is necessary expenditure in the process of training students, which has nothing to do with the actual education expenses. In addition to the discussion of measurement methods, taking C University for example, the thesis also calculated, verification and analysis the actual education costs and the standard education costs of the institution.