This report is a comprehensive analysis of college spending trends and the impact spending has on tuition and student success. American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) analyzed data from more than 1,500 four-year public and private, nonprofit colleges and universities. The data reveal that institutional spending has continued to surge…

The El Dorado Promise program is a universal, first dollar Promise program that guarantees a full tuition scholarship to students who attend the El Dorado School District from grades K-12, and a partial scholarship for those enrolled for at least 9th through 12th grade. We use a difference-indifferences framework to examine the impact of the El…

The annual National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) Tuition Discounting Study (TDS) measures tuition discount rates and other indicators of institutional grant awards to undergraduates attending private nonprofit (independent) colleges and universities. The "2016 Tuition Discounting Study" report, based…

Families may choose to save for college or elementary and secondary education expenses using tax-advantaged qualified tuition programs (QTPs), also known as 529 plans. 529 plans, named for the section of the tax code which dictates their tax treatment, are tax-advantaged investment trusts used to pay for education expenses. The specific tax…

Nearly 43 million college student borrowers across the United States owe more than $1.56 trillion in outstanding federal student loans. The number of student borrowers in the country has increased by 1.3 million, or 3.1 percent, over the past five years, while the amount of outstanding student debt in the country has increased by a whopping $…

The Appropriation Act directs the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to submit an annual report to the Governor and the chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees documenting the annual change in total charges for tuition and fees approved by the boards of visitors at Virginia public…

Former Vice President Joe Biden recently released the Biden Plan for Education beyond High School, which details several policy proposals that would take higher education in the wrong direction. The recommended policies would make higher education costlier and degrees less meaningful--all while pouring billions of dollars into a broken system. The…

Since 1997, education tax benefits have become an increasingly important component of federal higher education policy. For the 2019 and 2020 tax years, 12 tax benefits are available for college students and their parents to help pay for higher education. In 2025, absent legislative action, this number will increase to 13: two provisions which are…

The 2020 Democratic presidential primary elevated free-college plans to the top of the national agenda, with many candidates proposing expansive programs to help states make public colleges and universities free for in-state students. Proponents of these plans argue that tuition at public colleges and universities has become increasingly…

As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted last year, federal lawmakers gave parents more flexibility with their own savings for their children's education. Now, families that save money for college using what are commonly known as 529 college savings plans (named after Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code) can apply some of those savings to…

In Chapter 1, I investigate the migration response of college students to tuition differences between states, using variation introduced by tuition regional reciprocity agreements. Out-of-state students generally pay higher tuition than in-state students, but reciprocity agreements reduce the premium paid by students from other states in the…

Can an academic institution be truly free if it relies on government funding? Federal dollars mean federal mandates, and those mandates grow increasingly draconian. More and more, they stifle debate on open questions, demand denial of verifiable scientific truths, eliminate due process for students accused of misdeeds by other students, or insist…

More than 40 years of research has found a positive relationship between increases in the proportion of non-resident students enrolling in an institution and increases in the tuition prices this institution charges to these same students. Notably, this line of research has consistently treated this non-resident student body as if they constitute a…

The issue of first year student retention has major financial ramifications for institutions of higher education, state and federal governments, and most importantly, the students who decide to depart. This research inquiry used a collective case study to answer the following question: Why do first-time degree seeking students at a large public…

This paper explores the effects of community college tuition reductions on student enrollment decisions and graduation probabilities. The study leverages changes in community college taxing districts in Texas. The paper examines five community colleges who annexed municipalities into their taxing districts from 1994 to 2012. The study uses a…