Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Joan B. Murry
Committee Member
Thomas J. Thompson
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
budget shortfall, budgeting, benchmarking research, career development, career goals, Career Services, change management, Dean of Students, department operations, development methodology, environmental concerns, ethical issues, evaluation plan, fee-based model, fee-based service delivery, fees-for-services, fiscal resources, leadership, legal issues, noninstructional student costs, price structure, professional issues, state government budget support, student costs, University of Connecticut
Abstract
This applied dissertation project provided a partial solution to the problem of reduced state government budget support for the Department of Career Services at the University of Connecticut. A reduction in fiscal resources will hinder the operation of the Department of Career Services at the University of Connecticut and prevent the department from providing adequate career development services to help students reach career goals. The creation of a model for fee-based service delivery to users, using a development methodology, was the product of this project.
The research questions addressed and answered in this project explored following issues related to developing a fee based model: (a) the environmental concerns, (b) the ethical, professional and legal issues to consider when implementing a fees-for-services structure, (b) the change management factors, (c) the steps necessary to establish a price structure, and (d) development of a plan for evaluation. As a result of completing this project it was concluded that the implementation of a fee-based model at Career Services is a viable option to subsidize the budget shortfall for the Department. It was recommended that: (a) the leadership of the Department continue to review the environmental factors that could affect the operation of the Department under the fee-based plan, (b) that benchmarking research be included in the evaluation process in order to continue measuring the feebased model against similar models that may develop, and (c) finally, it was recommended that the results of this project be published in order to make this information widely available to career practitioners seeking to solve budget short-falls. The final plan for the fee-base model was presented to the Dean of Students at the University of Connecticut.