Instructor pay, equipment, and course materials are examples of:

The selection of typical operating expenses or needs as the correct answer is based on the nature of the items mentioned. Instructor pay, equipment, and course materials are integral to the functioning of an educational program and represent the routine costs incurred to maintain operations. Such expenses are generally recurring and necessary for delivering instruction effectively.

These operating expenses encompass the day-to-day costs associated with running courses, including salaries for instructors who provide educational services and the purchase of materials and equipment needed to facilitate these courses. This characterization aligns well with the definition of typical operating expenses, which primarily focus on the ongoing costs that are essential for the continued operation of an educational or training institution.

In contrast, administrative expenses typically refer to costs related to the overall management and support functions of an organization, which may not directly tie to instructional delivery. Capital expenditures, on the other hand, refer to investments in long-term assets like buildings or expensive equipment that serve the organization over a longer period and are not part of the usual operational costs. Variable costs refer to expenses that change in direct proportion to the level of production or business activity; while some of these costs could be variable, instructor pay and fixed materials costs typically remain stable regardless of the number of students enrolled in a specific course.