Public higher education in the United States (US) is funded through two primary forms: one is through state higher education appropriation funds, and the other is student financial aid that is directly given to students. Increasing postsecondary full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment and graduation rate are becoming a crucial economic priority in…

Performance-funding for higher education diffused across the U.S. following the Great Recession that led to funding cuts for the system. Postsecondary funding never returned to pre-Recession levels, and public colleges are held to higher expectations even as the funding they might use to meet these expectations has diminished. This is a challenge…

This research builds a narrative of a nationwide study on tuition waiver and tuition assistance programs. The authors administered a survey to long-standing and newly implemented tuition waiver programs within universities that identified limitations and opportunities. The purpose of this study is to highlight the varied approaches to…

Get A Skill, Get A Job, Get Ahead (G3) is a state-funded last-dollar scholarship program for students enrolling in eligible associate degree, certificate, and noncredit occupational training programs in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) in five high-demand fields: early childhood education, healthcare, information technology, public…

The aim of this dissertation is to inform policy makers when designing and making decisions on performance measure and performance-based funding models. While performance measures are designed to incent and inform college efforts to increase levels of student success, many of the models unfairly assess college outcomes and fund based on those…

This correlational quantitative study examined a five-year (2014-2019) trend to analyze whether there is a relationship between the level of state funding and the enrollment and graduation rates of students of color attending public institutions in Illinois. For the purposes of this study, the students of color include the following groups:…

This dissertation addresses the consequences of political influence on state higher education funding at the committee level. The State of South Carolina has a long history of using a formula to determine the appropriate amount of funding that is to be allocated to its colleges and universities. I use the funding level implied by the South…