Student Services

Student services are important for ensuring students benefit from a full college life experience. Learning within the academic classroom is important but students also learn from the total college experience. Student services play an important role in these experiences – student clubs, student senates, student events, dorm life, dining, etc. Such services, however, cost money and should be periodically reviewed in terms of their cost versus value to student life.


Determine actual costs for student services and adjust fees accordingly

Improve or eliminate student services that are costly but not essential

Recruit tutors for students from the private sector

Have psychiatric counselors on call and not permanently employed at the health center

Eliminate the less-used student services and consolidate others

Eliminate “optional” services that are not self-funded

Make food service self-service without changing prices

Privatize many of the non-instructional services for students

Cut non-critical campus activities (e.g., guest speakers) for a limited time period

Have Associated Students Government fees fund their administrator

Have theater box office revenues cover supplies, maintenance, and other contractual costs


A skeptic is a person who, when he sees the handwriting on the wall, claims it is a forgery. - Morris Bender


KH Consulting Group (KH) started this Know-How site in 2009 to create a forum for sharing ideas on effectively enhancing revenues and containing costs in higher education in the near and longer term.

KH has posted more than 500 ideas. You can join the forum at:
http://knowhow-education.blogspot.com/

Note: The ideas shared are not prescriptive and will not work in all situations or at all institutions. Some of the ideas are tactical – quick victories to save money in easy ways. Others are strategic, requiring careful analysis before implementing.