The faculty costs to educate a biomedical sciences graduate student

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Sciences
• Higher Education Administration
• Public Health Policy

Background:

• Academic medical centers face significant fiscal challenges due to healthcare restructuring, reduced state funding, and increased competition for research grants.
• The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) implemented a responsibility centers management (RCM) model to enhance fiscal accountability and require self-sustainability across its colleges.
• Biomedical sciences graduate schools are particularly vulnerable, relying on diverse and often insufficient revenue streams like training grants, tuition, and practice plan revenues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the need for accurate cost estimation in graduate education.
• To present a practical model for calculating faculty salary costs within a biomedical sciences graduate school.
• To provide a basis for budgetary planning to ensure the financial sustainability of graduate programs.

Main Methods:

• Empirical estimation of faculty salary costs.
• Development of a readily applicable model for budgetary planning.
• Focus on the context of a college of graduate studies within an academic medical center.

Main Results:

• The study presents a model for empirically estimating faculty salary costs.
• This model can serve as a foundation for effective budgetary planning.
• The findings aim to support the financial viability of biomedical sciences graduate programs.

Conclusions:

• Accurate estimation of educational costs, particularly faculty salaries, is crucial for the financial health of graduate schools.
• The proposed model offers a practical approach to cost assessment for academic medical centers.
• Implementing such financial planning tools can help sustain the core missions of teaching, research, and service in biomedical graduate education.