Nearly a year ago, "NEJHE" launched its "New Directions for Higher Education" series to examine emerging issues, trends, and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs, and practices. In this installment, DiSalvio interviews Muriel A. Howard, president of the American Association of State Colleges and…

Like many of her classmates, the author was a first-generation student, but that meant something quite different in the late 1960s than it does now. When she attended, college, the jobs parents had with high school degrees allowed them to provide considerable support for college educations. Paying for college was difficult but not as difficult as…

The problem facing American colleges and universities is larger than even the term "bubble" implies. A bursting bubble would force change on the more than four thousand postsecondary institutions in the United States, but something even more destructive is going to hit higher education, probably at the same time. The major sign that a…

Frequently overlooked in the discussion of whether there is or is not a higher education bubble are community colleges--despite the fact that this sector within public higher education represents 43 percent of first-time freshman and 44 percent of all undergraduates. For the most part, the "bubble" discussion has focused on whether the…

Making Pell Grants an entitlement and tying the maximum award to a measure of inflation, as President Obama has proposed, would probably yield larger awards and stop the cycle of shortfalls that have plagued the program. The president's plan, which would index the maximum award to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus one percentage point, probably…

There are a number of reasonable explanations why the growth of college costs exceeds that in other economic sectors. How higher education has avoided market and/or legislative discipline is unclear, but the growth in debt cannot continue, and colleges and universities will be called on for efficiency and productivity. (MSE)

The strategy for financing public higher education of using high tuition and student aid assumes, erroneously, that targeting subsidies directly to the needy makes a more equitable system, that the public will support the high-aid end of the equation, and that current and future students can repay debt. (MSE)

The principal characteristics and problems of financing higher education in a developing nation like Colombia are discussed, and several attempts to solve them are reviewed. Differences between the burgeoning private sector and the public sector, areas of inefficiency, and effects of public policy on tuition levels and payment are examined.…

While personal-income patterns have flattened for most groups, the constant-dollar prices charged by colleges and universities have increased by almost threefold. The resulting sense that the public is being asked to pay more tuition for less eventual income has caused public anxiety about higher education's value. The data are most clear for…

The crisis of affordability in higher education is intensifying. Illustrations of its resonance abound: from the frequent news articles describing and amplifying the crisis and its sources to legislators' and candidates' proposed responses. Republicans' responses tend to be mainly punitive toward institutions; Democrats' proposals are more…

This paper contains three articles which present the opinions of the authors on public college tuition and state finance. The problem addressed is the large increase in tuition charged by public sector, four-year colleges coupled with the effects of fiscal constraints facing the states. After an introduction by Richard J. Novak, the papers are:…

Legal and policy initiatives to achieve various tuition policy goals are proposed for the Massachusetts Board of Regents of Higher Education. The suggested tuition policy builds on the policy adopted by the Board in 1984. Details are provided on tuition and access, tuition and equity, the margin for excellence, tuition and fees, and…

Thirty years of federal student aid have increased the chances that low-income individuals will go to college, but the gap in college attendance between low- and high-income families has not changed much. Academic underpreparation among low-income groups, more federal student aid for the middle class, and rising tuition at state institutions…

Examines a number of trends in higher education that threaten to undermine the status, role, and even existence of liberal arts colleges. Looks at competitive marketing, merit-based student financial aid, private support for state schools, and the heavy influence of price on student choice. Keeping these factors in mind can allow universities to…

This paper explores the ways in which community colleges in the United States are financed. It offers a historical overview of community college financing in the U.S., arguing that from their inception, they have operated on the premise of providing wide access to higher education through public funding at little or no cost to students. The paper…