Volatility In State Spending For Higher Education

"Volatility in State Spending for Higher Education focuses on how much volatility there is in the fiscal relationship between states and institutions of higher education and addresses some of the consequences of this uncertainty. The book begins with a foreword, an editor's introduction, followed by three thematic sections that focus on duration and impact on economic performance and political determinants; financing policies for predictability; and state funding unpredictability. The book should inspire future research on volatility in state support for higher education. Volatility will likely remain a perennial issue and a 'wicked' problem that will require creative and dedicated minds to manage and research"--

The severity of cuts and the unpredictability in state funding for higher education have garnered headlines across the nation since the turn of the present century. In this context, the authors in this new groundbreaking volume argue that too little attention is paid to the consequences of volatility in funding, as most discussions focus on levels of funding. Their research addresses an important blind spot in the academic literature since predictability matters—to institutions, students, families, and states. In addition, the risks of operating in an uncertain financial environment have led to behaviors that are not always in the best interests of states, institutions, faculty, students, or the public good.

Perennial conclusions from state-by-state funding-per-student analyses of underfunding and weak state commitment have become so common that they have diluted the potency of the argument to state policymakers for more higher education funding. In addition, there has been little in the way of testing or questioning the assumptions embedded in traditional funding per student analysis and its accompanying conclusions.As state legislators balance the competing needs of education, health, transportation, and public safety budgets, they increasingly ask what return on investment (ROI) they get for the funding they provide, including from higher education. The ROI language, while potentially unsettling for its corporate-like and neoliberal connotation, will persist into the foreseeable future. We must ask questions both of adequacy (How much funding should the states provide?) and benefit (What benefits do states receive for the higher education funding they provide?). The focus on traditional funding per student analysis has remained static for over forty years, indicating the need for new ideas and methods to probe questions of adequacy and benefit.The Science of Higher Education is an introduction to a new paradigm that explores state higher education funding, enrollment, completion, and supply (the number and type of institutions in a state) through the lens of what are commonly known as power laws. Power laws explain patterns in biological systems and characteristics of cities. Like cities, state higher education systems are complex adaptive systems, so it is little surprise that power laws also explain funding, enrollment, completion, and supply.The scale relationships uncovered in the Science of Higher Education suggest the potential benefits state policymakers could derive by emphasizing enrollment, completion, or capacity policies, based on economies of scale, marginal benefits, and the return state’s get on enrollment and completion for the funding they provide.The various features of state higher education systems that conform to scale patterns do not alone provide definitive answers for appropriate funding levels, however. As this book addresses, policymakers need to take into account the macro forces, from demography to geography and the economy, that situate the system, as well the interactions between government and market actors that are at the core of every state higher education system and influence the outcomes it achieves.

Understanding the entrepreneurial nature of universities—in particular, the relationship between education and health in relation to development and wellness of communities—this volume provides a description/narration of the efforts in how universities can address their shifting contexts while engaging their communities in social change. In the development of this book, we have explored how reforms in American higher education are impacting the role of universities and their faculty. Contributors were asked to imagine possibilities for research and outreach by providing salient examples of how higher education can lead and change how we view the role of health and education within institutions and society. Each author writes across common themes that address the problems and possibilities of higher education curriculum and projects aligned with the mission of stewardship. The authors highlight interdisciplinary approaches and projects for faculty work, modification of the Teaching-Research-Service expectations, and community initiatives that can emerge from real-life problems (to impact wellbeing) and create rich and deep research possibilities for practitioners to impact both higher education and society. The process and research approaches used by the authors include imagining the community as part of a process of the change and part of what changes, exploring how community change can build on the strengths of local people, and why community organization and advocacy should revolve around social learning and community capacity theories. Given the diversity of topics and approaches, as editors we have tried to honour both the authors’ words and style in expressing their opinions to provide a forum for the readers to envision stewardship.

This is an opportune time for researchers in higher education to examine policy via cross-state comparative analyses. Momentous court, legislative and policy developments that impact state-level higher education policy are emerging at a rapid rate. The states have emerged as postsecondary policy innovators in the areas of student financing, institutional accountability, and student access.Following political scientists’ "rediscovery" of states as units of analysis--because they constitute unique "natural laboratories" for testing theory and hypotheses about political behavior and policy adoption dynamics--this book introduces this perspective as an increasingly important tool for researchers in higher education.State Postsecondary Education Research provides an in-depth examination of the challenges and opportunities inherent in conducting cross-state higher education policy research. The authors of each chapter use their individual research projects to demonstrate the array of methodological, theoretical, analytical, and political challenges inherent in conducting comparative state-level policy research. Among the innovative methods described is the use of pooled cross-sectional time-series analytic techniques and event history analysis--now widespread within the disciplines of economics and political science--to shift the unit of analysis from the state to the state-year, thus expanding greatly both the statistical power of the models being tested and the data-demands of those models.The goal is to introduce comparative state-level postsecondary policy research to a broader audience, and to contribute to discussions of both the challenges and the importance of this approach to higher education policy research.The book is intended as a resource for researchers in higher education policy and as a text for higher education policy courses. It may also appeal to scholars of educational policy as well as higher education policymakers.

State budgeting for higher education is a complex, multifacted process which is influenced by conditions outside both state government and higher education including the historical traditions, political culture, economic and demographic aspects of a state. Noted is the need of higher education to compete with other policy areas for resources and yet retain its autonomous nature. This monograph addresses the following budgeting concerns: environmental factors framing the state budget process for higher education; how these factors affect state budgeting; the primary elements of the state budget process for higher education; how the state higher education budget links resources with state objectives; accountability; costs, productivity, and quality; affordability; economic development; minority and nontraditional students; independent higher education; and the implications of what we know about state-level budgeting for higher education. It is emphasized that all participants, from the state level agency to the department within an institution should be aware of the overall picture of state budgeting for higher education. Includes 190 references. (LPT)

Educating the Top 100 Percent assesses the decline of higher education funding and offers ambitious policy recommendations to restore the possibility of accessible, affordable education for all. Stephen G. Katsinas, Nathaniel J. Bray, and Martha J. Kanter probe the complex interplay of federal, state, and local policies and illustrate how government actions have, over time, contributed to the long-term slide of US educational attainment. Declining federal and state funding of public higher education has forced institutions to revise their financial models, passing costs directly through to students, to the detriment of prospective students—and the nation. Experts in education policy, the authors point out how the unintended consequences of today's funding model deny an ever-increasing portion of the population important educational and professional opportunities. By providing context for how we arrived at this financial conundrum and analyzing robust quantitative data from national sources, Katsinas and his colleagues offer pragmatic, sustainable, and stable policy options for educating all Americans. The authors provide innovative ideas, key lessons learned, and actionable proposals to fund public higher education. Their top-down federal and bottom-up local and state policy solutions aim to rectify plummeting high school-to-college continuation and college graduation rates. As a result, they present a vision of a brighter economic, cultural, and civic future for educating all Americans. Educating the Top 100 Percent demonstrates how stable, sustainable funding policies can scaffold a better public higher education system for all.