This study proposes a mission-oriented framework for funding public research institutions (PRIs). Using a multi-case study approach and focus group interviews, a comprehensive framework was developed and refined. The framework encompasses three main dimensions: funding mechanisms, the amount of government funding, and organizational arrangements…

Using a dataset that includes every private donation made to a large public university from 1938 to 2012 and demographic information on all alumni, we examine the effects of public research funding on individual donations. Our dataset allows us to examine crowding effects on a small time scale and extensive donor characteristics. We estimate…

This paper evaluates economies of scale and scope, and the merger effect among national universities in Japan. We apply SUR for the total translog cost function in FY2014 and FY2018. The main results are: (i) there exist economies of scale as a whole university; (ii) but there exist no clear economies of scope except for in research; (iii) there…

States have adopted a variety of policies to encourage universities to expand research production, with the hope of supporting economic growth and competitiveness. This paper considers whether a state-level initiative succeeded in influencing university-based research outputs among regional public universities. We test whether the Texas Research…

The Federal Work-Study (FWS) program is an integral part of the federal financial aid plan in the United State since 1964 providing employment opportunities, financial assistance, and opportunities to improve career readiness to over 675,000 students annually. However, little investigation has been completed into the effects of participating in…

In April 2018, somebody painted over a mural in the "Julia de Burgos" public school's cafeteria, turning the wall into a blank, off-white slate. The mural's erasure symbolically encapsulates a combination of forces that are behind the radical transformation of public schools and colleges in Puerto Rico: the colonial relationship the…

Test-optional admissions policies have been steadily, though slowly, expanding throughout higher education institutions for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, sparked a rapid expansion of institutions adopting test-optional policy. Using a diffusion of innovations framework, this study assesses the institutional characteristics that shaped…

Food insecurity is a growing concern among college students. This narrative inquiry provides a greater understanding of food insecurity's impact on the college-going experience for urban students. Interviews were conducted with five college students who attend a large public urban university in the mid-Atlantic and use the on-campus food pantry.…

Advocates of tuition-free four-year public college make the argument for it too easy by asserting that it would be paid for out of taxes on the wealthy. Other uses of the revenues are possible. In this paper, Harry Brighouse and Kailey Mullane establish two criteria for comparing different uses of the revenues: the first criterion is, will the…

Using an output distance function as an analytic framework, stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), and a generalized true random effects (GTRE) model, this study examines the financial context of bachelor's degree production efficiency among public master's colleges and universities (MCUs) in the United States. Employing a GTRE model, degree…

The purpose of this paper on U.S. federal higher education policy is to discuss how market-based federal higher education funding policies over the last five decades has led to consequences that have been detrimental to student access at American public colleges and universities. Evidence shows increasing inequality in higher education…

In 2008 it was certain that the Great Recession would represent--for this generation--the singular reordering of higher education. As a result, it was assumed that colleges and universities would be forced to become vastly more efficient places by graduating more students with high-value certificates and degrees. Despite significant cuts to higher…

This study investigated the relationship between institutional graduation rates of students with Pell grants and institutional/financial aid characteristics. Study findings suggest that increasing the proportion of Pell recipients was related to a decrease in Pell student graduation rates, while increasing institutional grants was associated with…

This chapter reviews multiple variables across all public community colleges, and unveils marked disparities in public funding between and within the states at community colleges of different sizes and geographical settings.

Verification is a federally mandated process that requires selected students to further attest that the information reported on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is accurate and complete. In this brief, we estimate institutional costs of administrating the FAFSA verification mandate and consider variation in costs by…