Amidst chronic disparities in per-student resources, how best to construct funding formulas to equitably fund colleges and universities is an enduring policy concern. This brief focuses on a historically overlooked financial mechanism, categorical funding, to examine its role in funding (in)equity. Leveraging illustrative data from four…

Operating revenue for public higher education is derived from several sources, such as state appropriations, tuition, room and board, and contracts. State funding in particular constitutes a large share of revenue and is consequently critical for improving enrollment, completion, and labor market outcomes. However, states differ in how…

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the use of data for assessing library collection utilization, to explore what tools are available to help guide purchasing decisions, and to create a blueprint for applying percentage-based allocation formulas to community college library collection budgets. Because there is little literature on…

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how academic performance of the online learning mode compares with the traditional face-to-face mode in rural community colleges. As online learning has become a popular instructional offering among many rural community college students seeking to advance their opportunities, so has the level of…

The purpose of this global leadership study was to investigate the impact community college business curriculum internationalization has on the key components of the Ohio State Share of Instruction (SSI) funding formula. This analysis should assist institutional decision-makers in determining whether or not to incorporate such initiatives at their…

At $14 billion, the investment in operating support for higher education institutions from the coronavirus relief bill, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, is the largest one-year federal infusion of funds going straight to colleges since the Great Recession. Yet it's nowhere close to enough. Many states have already…

Objective: We investigate whether performance funding--an increasingly prevalent state policy that allocates appropriations based on outcomes that prioritize retention and completion--places minority-serving institutions (MSIs) at a financial disadvantage due to these institutions serving a greater proportion of historically underrepresented…

The recession prompted reflection on how resource allocation decisions contribute to the performance of community colleges in the United States. Private benchmarking initiatives, most notably those established by the National Higher Education Benchmarking Institute, can only partially begin to address this question. Empirical and financial…

The pathways for academic career and employment program (PACE) is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of projects that will lead to gainful, quality, in-state employment for members of target populations by providing them with both effective academic and employment training to ensure gain. This is the second…

Since the initiation of performance funding in Tennessee in the late 1970s, approximately 30 states have, at some point, attempted a funding model that includes performance on a set of indicators. The purpose of the present study was to capture the current status of performance funding in public statewide community college systems and to assess…

In January 2012, a system-wide task force came together for a nearly year-long process of revising the community and technical college system's performance-based funding (PBF) system, the Student Achievement Initiative. This review was consistent with national experts' recommendations for continuous evaluation of PBF systems to ensure overall…

The Massachusetts community college system is entering a second year with funding for each of its 15 schools determined using a new performance-based formula. Under the new model, 50% of each college's allocation is based on performance on metrics related to enrollment and student success, with added incentives for "at-risk" students…

The pathways for academic career and employment program (PACE) is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of projects that will lead to gainful, quality, in-state employment for members of target populations by providing them with both effective academic and employment training to ensure gain. This is the fourth…

The mission and vision of adult education is to provide every individual in Illinois access to Adult Education and Literacy services. In Illinois, more than 1.15 million adults have less than 12 grades of formal education, approximately 2.8 million Illinois residents speak a language other than English in their home, and more than 350,944…

The pathways for academic career and employment program (PACE) is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of projects that will lead to gainful, quality, in-state employment for members of target populations by providing them with both effective academic and employment training to ensure gain. This is the third…