Public Higher Education (PHE) reflects a drastic reduction in funding to subsidize its day-to-day functioning, increasing dependence on tuition fees to be operational, the existence of outdated government funding policies, and the lack of a sustainable funding mechanism. Notwithstanding, the plethora of research attempting to understand different…

Public colleges and universities are a key driver of social and economic mobility, yet they also face increasingly challenging financial and political environments. In this essay, I discuss four key areas in which state higher education policy can influence student success and equity: the amount of funding provided, funding allocation mechanisms,…

The Bring Bobcats Back program was established at Texas State University in 2018 for students who had "stopped out" to return and finish their degrees. Bring Bobcats Back has expanded thanks to federal and state grant funding born out of the pandemic. Through the U.S. Department of Education's Stabilization Fund Program via the…

Scholarship tax credit programs provide a tax credit to businesses and individual taxpayers for donating funds to scholarship granting organizations. Nonprofit organizations manage and distribute donated funds in the form of private school tuition scholarships to eligible students. There are currently 24 scholarship tax credit programs in 19…

We analyze a natural experiment in which policymakers in Pennsylvania first implemented, and later removed, reimbursements to districts for students exiting to brick and mortar and cyber charter schools. Generalized difference-in-difference models show that larger shares of students enrolling in charter schools predict decrements in spending,…

Scholarship tax credit programs provide a tax credit to businesses and individual taxpayers for donating funds to scholarship granting organizations. Nonprofit organizations manage and distribute donated funds in the form of private school tuition scholarships to eligible students. There are currently 24 scholarship tax credit programs in 19…

The OECD Higher Education Policy Survey (HEPS) is a new instrument developed by the OECD Higher Education Policy Team to gather comparative information on system features and characteristics of policies across OECD jurisdictions, to support policy analysis and peer learning. The first HEPS was fielded in 2020, to support the ongoing thematic…

The Tuition and Fee Report is produced annually by the Colorado Department of Higher Education to provide detailed information on the tuition and fee rates at Colorado's public institutions, as well as to give context regarding the state funding environment in which tuition and fee rate-setting occurs. Colorado has mirrored national trends over…

Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA; P.L. 89-329), as amended, authorizes the primary programs that provide federal financial assistance (e.g., Pell Grants and Direct Loans) to students to assist them in obtaining a postsecondary education at eligible institutions of higher education (IHEs). IHEs seeking to participate in the Title IV…

Since 2003, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) has produced the annual State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report to broaden understanding and enable analysis of state-level and national funding and enrollment trends over time. The SHEF report provides the earliest possible review of state funding for higher…

The far-reaching impacts of COVID-19 have generated unprecedented challenges for higher education institutions, states, and individuals over the past year. This includes significant budget implications that resulted in a strained and uncertain fiscal environment as states seek to meet goals and priorities while providing affordable and accessible…

At a time when Wisconsin faces severe workforce shortages in several key sectors and demand for skilled workers has skyrocketed, enrollment in the state's colleges and universities has generally been declining even faster than the national trend. Enrollments in Wisconsin across all public and private institutions were falling even prior to the…

This is the executive summary for the report, "A Little Help: Is Financial Aid Keeping College Affordable in Wisconsin?" This study finds that Wisconsin has not prioritized financial aid programs in recent years despite their potential benefits to the workforce and students, particularly low-income students and those of color. State…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of public policy decisions in each state that contribute to public higher education funding levels and funding distributions across states and…

The Tuition and Fee Report is produced annually by the Colorado Department of Higher Education to provide detailed information on the tuition and fee rates at Colorado's public institutions, as well as to give context regarding the state funding environment in which tuition and fee rate-setting occurs. Colorado has mirrored national trends over…