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It's all well and good to try to demonstrate one's deep knowledge of higher education finance on this thread, but I don't think it's realistic to suggest that students and their families should make annual financial reports, budgets, and IPEDS finance reporting a significant tool in their college search and decision-making, or the first one they should start with.
What's "lean" and "efficient" to one person may look like skimping to another. And in fact, the same amount per student could have very different effects on two different campuses, depending on how it is spent, and one what. I think families would be well-served to focus on fit, value for the money, and what current students report about how much support, service, and quality instruction they feel they are getting for the money. This is one case where the nonquantifiable, squishy response of students on campus would mean more to me than a hard-dialed ratio analysis from a trained CPA.
I think this thread is interesting, to be sure, but not all of the posts in it strike me as realistic.
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