The Cooperative Extension Service has as its mission helping the public use the research generated at land-grant universities. Since 1914, most states have used a county-based Extension model, with educators in every county and campus-based faculty supporting local educational efforts. This...

This Note describes a variety of resources which you can use to decide whether or not to charge user fees and/or sponsorship fees, and if so, how to do it in ways that encourage participation and generate revenue.

As public funding for Cooperative Extension declines, the continuation of many programs and events depends on new funding. This Note explores five cost recovery options: grants, contracts, gifts, sponsorships of events, and user fees. Table 1 summarizes the features of these with details after...

In this Note I explore the factors which influence the demand side of program participation, or the willingness to pay (WTP). The WTP estimates can help you determine how many people will participate in an event at each fee level.

This Note describes a process for developing a two page cost recovery plan for an Extension program or event. The approach outlined here can be used by any program team, whether they are a new team with a new program or event or they are an established team with an established program. An...

If your program team is exploring user fees, this Note describes the process for setting practical fees for an educational event.

This Note first describes ways to estimate the costs of delivering an event. Second, the note describes the costs of developing programs and events and ways to reduce these. Third, it explores ways to estimate the cost per person and how this changes as the scale of the program increases.

This Note explores in more detail whether your program has the characteristics that make it a good candidate for charging user fees or not. Some of the common questions that arise when Extension programs are considering charging fees or increasing them are listed.