This paper examines the debate in the U.S. Senate over the reasons why state governments have decreased funding for higher education. One side believes that federal mandates on states to pay for Medicaid have forced them to reduce spending on higher education. The other side believes that states unwisely reduced taxes, which decreased their…

What explains the different levels of tuition and financial aid observed in the United States? This study hypothesizes that state-level political characteristics account for much of the variation observed. Of particular importance are the ideology of state legislators and the relative influence of public and private institutions. Estimates of a…

Few recent issues in higher education have been as contentious as that of legislation extending in-state college tuition benefits to undocumented students, initiatives now known as in-state resident tuition (ISRT) policies. Building on several strands of literature in political science and higher education studies, we analyze the effects of…