비용함수를 활용한 고등교육기관의 지출 요인 추정: 국내 4년제 대학을 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to estimate the expenditure of universities by using cost function. For the research purpose, this study used indicators related to major education and research functions of 125 universities in Korea in the 2022 disclosure data of Academy Information System. The analysis results are as follows. First, the number of enrolled students had an effect on the expenditure of the university and that there was an economy of scale for the estimated cost according to the increase in the number of enrolled students. However, the economy of scope did not appear meaningful. In addition, the number of students per full-time faculty, the annual salary of full-time faculty, the rate of securing full-time faculty, and the education expenditure per student also showed significant influence. It can be seen that these results show differences in the influence depending on whether the interaction between variables is considered and the nature of the dependent variable. Second, the marginal cost per student of private universities in the metropolitan area were relatively high. Finally, there are some differences between actual and estimated expenditures in the institutions. The difference may exist depending on the characteristics of various universities. Based on the above research results, this study discussed policy and academic implications related to cost estimation for higher education institutions.