Much Higher Population Proportion In Public Universities example essay topic

Dear Members of the College Audit Group: Introduction and Statement of Purpose A recent study has been performed to evaluate college performance levels in different regions of the nation. The country was separated into 9 regions and thirty colleges and universities were selected randomly from each of these regions to form the basis for this study. There is no reason to believe that the data collected from the colleges selected do not resemble the majority of the total colleges in each region. The data obtained from these colleges represented several variables; however, only a few will be discussed in this report. In this phase of the report, studies were aimed at evaluation different variable than that of the first phase of the report (Appendix); however, some findings in the first phase can be directly related to the findings of this phase. This phase of the study also places more emphasis on the public or private status of colleges rather than their respective division levels.

For clarity however, the findings in the first phase will be reiterated here. The following report, which is supported by tables on the following pages, will briefly summarize the findings of this study. Professor Salaries The study showed that professors at colleges in the West and Northeast tend to have higher salaries than all other regions by $8,000-$12,000 and are well over the national salary average by $9,000. This also holds true for professors at Division I schools who make on average $12,000-$20,000 more per year than professors at Division IIA and IIB schools and have a higher average salary than the national average professor salary by $14,000. Professors at colleges in the Central and Mountain regions of the country tended to have the lowest average salaries of all regions. In-State Tuition The regions showed the same trend with in-state tuition as were with professor salaries.

The schools in the Northeast and West appeared to have much higher in-state tuition costs than other regions, being $5,000 over the national average, while the schools in the Mountain region had the lowest being $4,000 under the national average. Division IIB schools tended to have much higher in-state tuition costs that division I and division IIA, usually by $3,000-$4,000. Student / Faculty Ratio The Northeast and Western colleges tended to also have lower student / faculty ratios. Northeast colleges had a much lower ratio though by almost 0.7 and was almost 2.0 students better than the national average. South Central region schools had the highest student / faculty ratio, well over the national average by 3.5 students. Division IIB schools also appeared to have lower student / faculty ratios than other college divisions, well over a whole student better than division I schools and the national average.

Instructional Expenditures per Student Western and Northeast regions appeared to have higher instructional expenditures per student than the national average by $3,000-$4,000. Mountain and South Central region schools tended to have the lowest instructional expenditures, being roughly $3,000 under the national average. Division I schools also have much higher instructional expenditures than Division II schools and are almost $4,000 higher than the national average. Faculty Members with a PHD This part of the study was aimed at determining whether there is a difference between the average amount of faculty members with a PHD in public and private colleges. The two regions selected for this study were the Mid-Atlantic and Central regions. Both regions showed that public universities have a significantly higher percentage of faculty members with a PHD than that of private universities.

After looking at this more in depth, it was found that only one region exhibited a higher average amount of faculty members with a PHD in private colleges - the Northwest. Applications Accepted: Public vs. Private Universities This part of the study was to test whether or not there is a difference between the population proportions of applications accepted among private and public universities. Two regions were studied; the South Central US region and the Northwest region. In both regions, there was a significant difference between the population proportions of applications accepted among private and public schools. In the South Central region, there was a much higher population proportion in public universities, but in the Northwest region, there was a higher population proportion in the private universities.

Relationship of Division Level to Public or Private Status The last part of this study focused on testing the independence of college division level to public and private university status. Every college chosen for the study was accounted for in this part of the experiment. After separating each school into categories of respective division level and public or private status, a chi squared test was implemented. The findings concluded that there exists a strong relationship between division level and public or private status. Many more division I schools were public universities, while many more division IIB schools were private universities.

Conclusion The first phase of this study concluded that colleges in the Northeast and Western regions of the US were overall the best colleges to attend. Schools in these regions tended to be the most expensive, but they also yielded the highest education standards. The South Central region and Mountain region tended to show the worst educational standards, but also displayed the lowest costs to attend. South Central schools also exhibited a very high population proportion for received applicants in public schools, so these schools are not only cheap with subpar educational standards, but they also appear easier to be accepted into. This study has also shown that Division I schools generally have higher paid professors. This and the conclusion that more faculty members have a PHD in public universities seem to have a direct relationship, because this study has concluded that many division I schools are public universities.

Thus it can be assumed that these professors in Division I schools make more money because much more of the professors at these schools have a PHD. There also appeared to be no direct relationship between a college's public or private status and it's population proportion of received applications. There was; however, a very significant relationship between a college's division level and whether it is a public or private university. Many public universities were at the Division I level, while a huge percentage of Division IIB schools are private universities.