The model should, for example, appropriately account for the relatively higher cost of the credit hours for graduate education. This cost is often offset by the cost-savings occurring when graduate students teach undergraduates. Graduate students also contribute to research and other services. Other issues to be taken into account include variations in the cost of credit hours depending on laboratory costs, etc., and the differing market value of professors in various fields. The costs of credit hours should be evaluated in terms of peer-institution indicators.
Any budgetary model needs to take into account the individual differences among colleges.
Some of these are detailed below. This issue also applies to its small graduate classes, which support its large number of PhD's. COLA offers many CORE curriculum courses that serve students who major in disciplines in other colleges. A model must take into account credit hour generation, not just numbers of majors. COLA serves many double majors, especially from the School of Education.