THE INFLUENCE OF INDICATORS OF SCALE ON THE FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY OF THE UNIVERSITY: METHODOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS

The uncertainty of the functioning of higher education institutions in Ukraine in the conditions of Russian aggression, the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, actualized the problems of financial stability violations in higher education institutions, which is caused by the following factors: fluctuations in the number of students, their concentration in central universities, outflow from regional universities, changes in their structure , loss of income from foreign students, prioritization of defense expenditures, delay and reduction of budget funding, decrease in the solvency of the population, price competition between higher education institutions, destruction of the material and technical base, migration of applicants and teachers abroad, etc. The purpose of the article is the methodological substantiation and practical approbation of the assessment of the impact of the change in the contingent on the financial stability of the university, proving the hypothesis that the stability and balance of the contingent has a positive effect on the university's income. It is substantiated that the change in the contingent of students, their structure by degrees of education, forms of education and sources of funding is one of the indicators of the financial stability of the university. A group of scale indicators is proposed, which includes indicators of the growth of the contingent, in terms of budget and private financing, the average level of university income per student, the average level of university budget allocations per 1st budget student / contract student. The method of calculating scale indicators is defined and their recommended values are proposed to determine the level of their influence on the financial stability of the university. Based on a sample of thirty-five higher education institutions of Ukraine, which include classical, technical, pedagogical, economic, and other universities, a practical test of the proposed approach was carried out, the obtained results were graphically presented, the main patterns and factors of violation of the financial stability of higher educational institutions were identified.