Cost management in educational services: the importance of strategic cost control in educational institutions

The educational market in Brazil has become very competitive and, according to the Higher Education Sense, 88.20% of Higher Education Institutions are private. To make a difference in the market, HEIs must offer quality services. This offer requires a lot of intellectual as well as financial investment. Given this reality, managers need to control their revenues, but especially control their costs, which, for this business, are very high. Managers need to adopt strategic cost management methods so that they can know how their company is facing its own reality, make comparisons with other companies in the same sector, and have sufficient subsidies for decision-making. This article, through a data analysis research, seeks, through an appropriate methodology, to demonstrate the importance of applying appropriate cost management methods in private Higher Education Institutions that offer Lato Sensu Specialization courses.