Date of Award

Summer July 2011

Access Restriction

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctorate in Education

Department

Education

School or College

School of Education

First Advisor

Shane P. Martin

Second Advisor

Karen K. Huchting

Third Advisor

Ernest D. Rose

Abstract

This study examined the implementation and assessment of revenue-based budgeting at a medium-size, private, mission-based graduate school of education (SOE), under the pseudonym Peter Claver University (PCU). Additionally, two other similar schools were included in the study because they used revenue-based budgeting for a period of 10 years or longer and their missions were comparable to that of PCU’s SOE.

A survey and three interviews were conducted with the deans of the three schools and responses were subjected to content analysis and triangulation. Points of consensus between the deans were the following: a strong favor for the revenue-based budgeting model; the desire for regular assessment to determine the success of the revenue-based budget and to update the model based on new economies and forecasting; the belief that revenue-based budgeting would give the deans more control over their schools’ futures; and the conviction that revenue-based budgeting provided the deans with the flexibility to accomplish the strategic goals of the school.

The major findings included that budget models need to be tailored to the institution’s goals and academic objectives; no specific revenue-budget formula fits all institutions; SOEs will be successful by having an interdependent financial model; deans are expected to be financially savvy; there are no service level agreements between SOEs and the service departments; SOEs with higher percentage of faculty receiving grants can be more innovative; assessment of the revenue-based model on an as-need-basis and rarely happens; and deans are supportive of a revenue-based budget model.

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