B04: Course costs

Purpose

This directive outlines the procedures for establishing course costs.

Preamble

In 1966, Federal and Provincial Attorneys General agreed to establish the National Police Services (NPS) to help combat organized crime and increase public safety. As a result, the Canadian Police College (CPC) was founded in 1976 with the mandate to deliver specialized police training to members of Canadian police departments and agencies and foreign police departments. In response to policing requirements and other Government priorities, this mandate evolved to include advanced training and executive development programs, and to include other government departments with a law enforcement mandate. To support operations, the College has established the authority to establish appropriate contracting for service arrangements, in keeping with Treasury Board Policies and guidelines for cost recovery, as the method for establishing all fees at the CPC. In 2021 there is authority for $5.78M of Revenues Credited to the Vote. This reference level will be subject to review once the full impact of the transition to full cost recovery will have been validated. The Director General of the CPC is delegated the responsibility for establishing curriculum and for setting CPC fees. The Commissioner of the RCMP approves and monitors the curriculum and fees.

Directive

For the purpose of updating the costing of courses to support the annual assessment of fees, In May of each year, the CPC will provide to Financial Management the proposed number of On-Site and Off-Site courses and course offerings for the following calendar year, as well as any other information which may impact the calculation of course costs.

Procedures, roles and responsibilities

1. Course costs will be calculated by Financial Management, based on information obtained from the CPC. These costs will be calculated using a methodology agreed to by CPC. Cost drivers have been determined in Appendix A.
2. In June of every calendar year, Financial Management will provide the CPC Business Operations with an updated estimate of the delivery costs per student per course.
3. CPC Business Operations will recommend the fees based on the costs provided by Financial Management. Final approval of the fees rests with the Executive Director of CPC. Refer to Directive B01 – Course Fees.

New Courses

4. If a program area requires a new course to be costed, Business Operations must provide to Financial Management:
   • the proposed number of course offerings per year (On-Site and Off-site); and,
   • the expected number of students per course offering.
5. Financial Management will provide Business Operations with estimates calculated using the methodology agreed to by CPC for tuition costs.

Errors

6. If an error is discovered in the course cost or fee, this must be reported to CPC Business Operations as soon as possible.
7. CPC Business Operations is responsible for coordinating with the Registrar's Office, Financial Management, and the Program areas to resolve the issue.

Related directives

Course Fees – B01

Appendix A – Costing drivers

Costs projections for the coming year will be based on the average of the actual costs of delivering the programs for the previous three (3) years. The costs will be calculated and the program level and divided equally between the courses in the program.

The costs for the upcoming year will be based on the average costs from previous years and projections for the upcoming year.

The calculation of the costs takes into account the following factors:

On-Site and Off-Site courses

The revenue and costs associated with both on-site and off-site courses will be aggregated to provide numbers average both types of course.

Respendable revenues versus non-respendable revenues.

Respendable revenues are those which can be reallocated to other areas in the event of unexpected costs. For example, revenues from course fees could be reallocated to replace technology in classrooms if it failed at a higher rate than anticipated. Non-respendable revenues are those funds which cannot be reallocated. For example, funds allocated for building maintenance cannot be reallocated to cover a shortfall in tuition revenues.

Course offering for the upcoming year

The projected costs for the upcoming year will be assigned based on the following factors:

• The average expenses for the program over the previous three years
• The number of courses offered per program
• The expected number of participants per course

Program costs

These are costs directly associated with each program and consist of:

Personnel

Instructors, Subject Matter Experts (e.g. internal RCMP members or external police officers that have the expertise for a specific course) and contractors.

O&M and On-going

One time use supplies (paper, pencils, etc.) and on-going equipment (cameras, computers, etc.) that are amortized according to the RCMP capital asset useful life. There are exceptions where the standard useful life should be adjusted to portray a useful life that would more appropriately reflect heavy usage and higher risk of breakage.

Travel costs

Courses that are offered off-site or SMEs that have to travel to attend the course.

Aggregate costs

These are costs incurred by the CPC that apply to all programs. As such they are divided between all programs. They include the following categories:

Support costs

These are the activities and units that support the CPC's courses such as the DG's office, the registrar's office, the library, etc. These areas are necessary for courses to operate efficiently but are not direct costs. Collator Branches used are: SN01, SN02, SN06, SN09 and SN012.

Indirect costs

These are the activities that indirectly support the CPC overall such as internal services (17% of salaries) and EBP (20% of salaries).

Maintenance costs

Costs associated with the upkeep of buildings, grounds keeping, utilities, etc. The costs of the buildings' amortization were not included in this costing model; however, it should be noted that they make up a major cost for the RCMP overall.

Appendix B – Master template

Date modified:

2021-12-06