This study draws upon the first detailed longitudinal dataset on performance-based funding (PBF) to document the evolution and current landscape of PBF in American higher education. We show that while PBF has become increasingly common, states have experimented with adopting, abandoning, and re-adopting PBF over time. We also find a new wave of…

Performance-based funding models for higher education, which tie state support for institutions to performance on student outcomes, have proliferated in recent decades. Some states now tie most of their higher education appropriations to completion outcomes and include bonus payments for historically underrepresented groups to address equity gaps…

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…

In this paper, we employ Punctuated Equilibrium Theory to consider institutions' shifting goals, priorities, and constraints, and to explore the nature of change at colleges and universities in the United States. By exploiting annual changes in institutional budget decisions over a 29-year period, we seek to understand the extent to which…

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…

Community colleges play an increasingly important role in the higher education landscape. Yet, what is unclear is whether existing models for funding community colleges are up to the task of preserving, or even expanding, access to postsecondary education, particularly among groups historically underrepresented in higher education. Of particular…

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have a unique history, mission, and role in educating underrepresented and underserved students in the United States. In light of the recent uptick in institutional closures across sectors, understanding the factors associated with college survival for HBCUs is critical. Using linear probability…

The 2011 Budget Control Act eliminated the in-school interest subsidy for graduate and professional students borrowing under the Stafford Loan Program. As a result, starting on July 1, 2012, graduate and professional students borrowing Stafford Loans became responsible for the interest accruing during their in-school deferment period. This study…

Previous studies of the role of college students' funding sources in their educational outcomes have focused on individual funding sources and have not paid much attention to the mixing of multiple sources. As rising college tuition has heightened the financial burden on college students, the use of multiple funding sources has become an adaptive…

Community college baccalaureate (CCB) degree programs have become increasingly popular in recent years, with over 100 community colleges in 24 states currently offering at least one bachelor's degree program. Despite the growing prevalence of CCB degree programs, the financial implications of CCB adoption remain largely unknown. This study…

Extant research neglects to examine how policymakers make decisions regarding funding allocations to higher education institutions. This case study analyzed the policy process surrounding the development of one model for funding higher education in Colorado. The study is anchored in a theory of policy design, which considers how groups targeted by…

Doctoral student recruitment is a dynamic, complex, and under-researched phenomenon. There is steep competition between programs for recruiting students with large amounts of resources at stake, especially within the STEM fields, and programs do not operate in isolation within such environments. In this paper, we explore how graduate programs…

This study examines how primary funding sources during doctoral program including loans, RAships, TAships, fellowships, and personal/family support, are associated with career outcomes among STEM doctoral graduates. Using the 2013 Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) data commissioned by the NSF, we conducted a series of logistic and multinomial…

Numerous observers and critics of higher education, including some policymakers, have suggested that hiring and maintaining faculty on tenure lines is a primary source of inefficiency in colleges and universities. These "disrupters" argue that reducing commitments to tenure will lead to cost savings and more effective adaptations to…

Dominant explanations of state higher education policy tend to emphasize economic models that foreground the business cycle or political approaches that cast ideology as fairly fixed. We instead foreground changing social context to conceptualize state appropriations as predicted not only by these classic explanations, but also by the interplay of…