The past decade has seen increased attention to cost-effectiveness and benefit-cost analysis in education as administrators are being asked to accomplish more with the same or even fewer resources, philanthropists are keen to calculate their "return on investment" in social programs, and the general public is increasingly scrutinizing how resources are allocated to schools and colleges. Economic Evaluation in Education: Cost-Effectiveness and Benefit-Cost Analysis (titled Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: Methods and Applications in its previous editions) is the only full-length book to provide readers with the step-by-step methods they need to plan and implement a benefit-cost analysis in education. Authors Henry M. Levin, Patrick J. McEwan, Clive Belfield, Alyshia Brooks Bowden, and Robert Shand examine a range of issues, including how to identify, measure, and distribute costs; how to measure effectiveness, utility, and benefits; and how to incorporate cost evaluations into the decision-making process. The updates to the Third Edition reflect the considerable methodological development in the evaluation literature, and the greater empiricism practiced by education researchers, to help readers learn to apply more advanced methods to their own analyses.

This thesis examined the effects of participation in early graduate education programs on retention among 1988-1996 USNA graduates. The comparison group of non-participants consisted of USNA graduates in the top 200 on the Order of Merit in order to make the academic background similar to participants. The retention behavior of program participants and non-participants was compared to determine if granting early graduate education had an effect on retention to six years of service (one year beyond the minimum required service). For a pooled sample of all graduates, both the Voluntary Graduate Education Program (VGEP) and Scholarship program had positive effects on retention. The cost- benefit analysis found positive net benefits for VGEP, but a net-loss for the Scholarship program. However, while the analysis includes all costs, it omits some of the non-quantifiable benefits of the programs. If these benefits were quantified and included, it is expected that both programs would yield positive net benefits. Minor changes to the additional service requirements for both programs were recommended.