Custo por aluno: estudo de caso no Instituto Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul

Abstract

This research aims to propose na improved methodology for measuring the cost per student of courses offered by the Aquidauana campus of the Federal Institute of Mato Grosso do Sul (IFMS), considering 2024 as the base year. The methodological procedure began with the identification, processing, and organization of currentand capital expenses linked to the campus and the Rectorate, allowing for an understanding of the budgetary structure that supports educational activities. For cost allocation, expense distribution criteria were defined, grouping them into three main categories: i) personnel expenses, ii) student aid, and iii) operating expenses. The calculation of the cost per student was carried out based on the absorption costing method, adopting as a reference the first indicatore stablished by TCU Decision No. 408/2002, corresponding to the "current cost per student". Furthermore, seeking to overcome the limitations of traditional approaches—such as simply dividing total expenses by the number of enrollments—the concept of student-hour was adopted, capable of weighting the differences in workload, duration, and curricular structure between technical, higher education, and Initialand Continuing Training (FIC) courses. The proposal presents indicators of course value per hour, course cost, cost per hour, cost per student, cost per offered place, and cost per graduate, enabling a comprehensive analysis of institutional expenditure. The results demonstrated strong variation between modalities, with higher education courses presenting significantly higher costs due to infrastructure and human resource requirements, while FIC courses presented lower unit costs. It was also identified that dropout, retention, and unfilled places directly influence the cost per student and the cost per graduate, reinforcing the importance of retention and success policies. The comparison with the current expenditure per student presented in the 2024 Management Report revealed substantial methodological differences, indicating that the proposed methodology contributes to greater accuracy, transparency, and usefulness in the institution's budget management and educational planning.