NACUBO Expense Function Definitions

NACUBO Expense Function Definitions

FN10 Instruction or Departmental Research – 

• Includes expenses for all activities that are part of an institution’s instruction program. Expenses for credit and noncredit courses; academic, vocational, and technical instruction; remedial and tutorial instruction; and regular, special, and extension sessions should be included. 
• This classification excludes expenses for those academic personnel whose primary activity is administration—for example, academic deans.
• The instruction classification includes the following five subclasses:
  • General Academic Instruction
  • Vocational/Technical Instruction
  • Community Education
  • Preparatory/Remedial Instruction
  • Instructional Information Technology

FN20 Organized Research – 

• Includes all expenses for activities specifically organized to produce research, whether commissioned by an agency external to the institution or separately budgeted by an organizational unit within the institution. Subject to those conditions, the classification includes expenses for individual and/or project research as well as that of institutes and research centers.
• The research classification includes the following three subclasses:
  • Institutes and Research Centers
  • Individual and Project Research
  • Research Information Technology

FN30 Public Service – 

• Includes expenses for activities established primarily to provide non-instructional services for the benefit of individuals and groups that are external to the institution. These activities include community service programs (excluding instructional activities) and cooperative extension services. Included in this classification are conferences, institutes, general advisory services, reference bureaus, radio and television, consulting, and similar non-instructional services to particular sectors of the community.
• The public service classification includes the following four subclasses:
  • Community Service
  • Cooperative Extension Service
  • Public Broadcasting Services
  • Public Service Information Technology

FN40 Academic Support – 

• Includes expenses incurred to provide support services for the institution’s primary programs of instruction, research, and public service. The retention, preservation, and display of educational materials, such as libraries, museums, and galleries
• The academic support classification includes the following eight subclasses:
  • Libraries
  • Museums and Galleries
  • Educational Media Services
  • Ancillary Support
  • Academic Administration
  • Academic Personnel Development
  • Course and Curriculum Development
  • Academic Support Information Technology

FN50 Student Services – 

• Includes expenses incurred for offices of admissions and the registrar and activities that, as their primary purpose, contribute to students’ emotional and physical well-being and intellectual, cultural, and social development outside the context of the formal instruction program. This classification includes expenses for student activities, cultural events, student newspapers, intramural athletics, student organizations, intercollegiate athletics (if the program is not operated as an auxiliary enterprise), counseling and career guidance (excluding informal academic counseling by the faculty), student aid administration, and student health service (if not operated as an auxiliary enterprise).
• The student services classification includes the following eight subclasses:
  • Student Services Administration
  • Social and Cultural Development
  • Counseling and Career Guidance
  • Financial Aid Administration
  • Student Admissions
  • Student Records
  • Student Health Services
  • Student Services Information Technology

FN60 Institutional Support – 

• Includes expenses for central, executive-level activities concerned with management and long-range planning for the entire institution, such as the governing board, planning and programming operations, and legal services; fiscal operations, including the investment office; administrative information technology (when not accounted for in other categories); space management; employee personnel and records; logistical activities that provide procurement, storerooms, printing, and transportation services to the institution; support services to faculty and staff that are not operated as auxiliary enterprises; and activities concerned with community and alumni relations, including development and fundraising.
• The institutional support classification includes the following five subclasses:
  • Executive Management
  • Fiscal Operations
  • General Administration
  • Public Relations/Development
  • Administrative Information Technology

FN70 Operations and Maintenance of Plant – 

• Includes all expenses for the administration, supervision, operation, maintenance, preservation, and protection of the institution’s physical plant.
• These expenses include items such as:
  • Janitorial and utility services;
  • Repairs and ordinary or normal alterations of buildings, furniture, and equipment;
  • Care of grounds;
  • Maintenance and operation of buildings and other plant facilities; security; 
  • Earthquake and disaster preparedness;
  • Safety; hazardous waste disposal;
  • Property, liability, and all other insurance relating to property; s
  • Space and capital leasing; facility planning and management; and central receiving.

FN80 Scholarships and Fellowships –

• The scholarships and fellowships category includes expenses for scholarships and fellowships- from restricted or unrestricted funds- in the form of:
  • Grants to student, resulting from selection by the institution or from an entitlement program
  • Trainee stipends, prizes and awards (for enrolled students only)
  • Recipient of grants that are not required to perform service to the institution as consideration for the grant
  • Aid in the form of tuition or fee remissions (tuition fee remissions because of faculty or staff status should be recorded as staff benefit expenses)

FN90 Auxiliary – 

• An auxiliary enterprise exists to furnish goods or services to students, faculty, staff, other institutional departments, or incidentally to the general public, and charges a fee directly related to, although not necessarily equal to, the cost of goods or services.
• The distinguishing characteristic of an auxiliary enterprise is that it is managed as an essentially self-supporting activity.
• Examples are residence halls, food services, intercollegiate athletics (only if self-supporting), college stores, faculty clubs, parking, and faculty housing. Student Health Services, when operated as an auxiliary enterprise are also included.