Calculating the Unit Cost of Student Training at Gonabad University of Medical Sciences in 2017: Using a Step-Down Method

The provision of evidences on the unit cost of student training is one of the main goals and axes of the packages for reforming and innovation in medical education in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The purpose of this study was to calculate the unit cost of student training in Gonabad University of Medical Sciences. the present study was a cross-sectional study. The data of the current cost and depreciation of resources in four faculties of medicine, nursing and midwifery, paramedical and health sciences of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences in 2017 were included. In the present study for cost identification, the provider’s perspective was the step-down costing method were used to analyze the data. The calculations were done in Excel software. the total cost of student education services was 173.128 million Rials. The human resources cost as the largest expense category was 87.5% of the total cost. The unit cost of student’s education was 245,535,348 Rials for medicine school. The unit cost of student’s education in Master of Science in nursing, environmental health, and health education was 194,155,419, 164,065,003, and 138,823,439, respectively. Among the undergraduates, the highest unit cost of student training was determined for laboratory sciences, 99,682,539.The unit cost of general medicine and Master of Science was more than the tuition fees approved by the ministry of health in Iran. the study findings revealed the amount of unit cost for student training in medical higher education. There is a gap between the real cost of education (Costs incurred) and tuition fees approved by the ministry of health in Iran.