Determining Unit Costs per Student and Break-Even Point at Nursing College of Praboromarajchanok Institute, Thailand

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the unit cost per student to train new nursing staff as well as the break-even point at each Nursing College under Proboromrajchanok Institute. The methodology utilized a retro-spective and prospective approach in which data were collected and calculated for the fiscal year 2559 (1 October 2558 – 30 September 2559). Labour costs, material costs and capital costs were retrieved from two sources, governmental budgets and non-governmental budgets. The College’s perspectives were pre-sented in terms of unit cost using a step-down method for cost allocation. The results showed that the minimum and maximum total cost per year among the 14 nursing colleges were 50,395,379.63 baht and 85,278,431.08 baht, respectively. On average the percentage for labour costs, material costs and capital costs was 65.16%, 20.55% and 15.06%, respectively. The median proportions for direct costs and indirect costs were 61.61% and 38.39%. The median cost for the full-time equivalent student (FTES) was 138,255.83 baht/FTES. The median cost per student was 138,783.94 baht/person. A by-product of this result showed that the training of students in their first year had the highest cost followed by training given to students in their second, third and fourth years, which were 182,249.50, 166,533.61, 144,168.93, and 83,130.85 baht, respectively. The break-even point was 136 students per year. The results of the study offered benefits to the management of nurse training within the institute with a clearer understanding of the unit costs associated with the training of new nurses. This will help to establish a high quality education system with appropriate oversight of the resources required for its successful implemen-tation.