OPTIMIZATION OF THE COST OF EDUCATION OF STUDENTS EDUCATED AT THE EXPENSE OF INDIVIDUALS OR LEGAL ENTITIES

Abstract

The results of recruitment by state institutions of higher education of students studying at the expense of individuals or legal entities in educational professional programs of the field of knowledge 13 "Mechanical engineering" specialty 133 "Industrial mechanical engineering" were analyzed. It was established that, compared to previous academic years, the number of students in this category increased by 50–70% in the 2023–2024 academic year. Proportionately from UAH 20,000 up to 40–45 thousand UAH. the amount of annual payment by students for their commercial studies also increased in state higher education institutions. It was found that institutions of higher education, as providers of educational services, do not provide individuals or legal entities that pay for the education of commercial students, detailed information on the list of expenditure items of paid funds. This is due, obviously, to the lack of scientifically based methods for calculating the costs of conducting the educational process for full-time students. The method of optimizing the cost of education for students studying at the expense of individuals or legal entities on a full-time basis is proposed. This technique is based on the application of developed mathematical dependencies that allow calculating the costs of higher education institutions for training a full-time student, in general, and a commercial student, in particular. The proposed mathematical dependencies for calculating the cost of student education are based on taking into account the amount of salaries of full-time teachers of the teaching staff and auxiliary staff of higher education institutions involved in the implementation of the educational process. Also taken into account are the costs of the educational institution for quality assurance of the educational process and compliance with sanitary and hygienic norms of its implementation. Using the example of the educational and professional training program for students of specialty 133 "Industrial Mechanical Engineering" at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Transport of the National University "Lviv Polytechnic", the ability of the proposed method to fairly accurately calculate the cost of a full-time student's annual education at the expense of individuals or legal entities is illustrated. Quite expectedly, it turned out to be 17% lower than the annual tuition fee set by the administration of this higher education institution.