For nearly three decades, public colleges and universities in the United States have suffered a sharp decline in the level of state funding that they receive (Chronicle, 2014). As a result, in order to remain not even competitive but simply financially stable, institutions of higher education have found it necessary to seek other means and sources…

Chapter 1 of the "Comprehensive Statewide Plan for Postsecondary Education" identifies several statewide goals related to meeting the needs of students, meeting the needs of the state, meeting needs by building exemplary institutions, and meeting educational needs through partnerships and collaboration. These goals are critical to the…

Policymakers in Texas want to understand the funding levels necessary for community colleges to meet their promise of providing an affordable and accessible pathway to a postsecondary certificate or degree. This study was conducted to help these policymakers better understand the extent to which Texas community colleges had adequate funding to…

RAND researchers studied more than 450,000 recipients of New Jersey's Tuition Aid Grant (TAG) -- the nation's most generous state-funded grant program per state resident college student -- to explore whether getting larger amounts of grant aid led to higher graduation rates for students at varying income levels and attending two-year, four-year,…

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…

The purpose of this journal-format dissertation was to investigate the condition of community college policy at the state-level as well as the effects of state-level policies on community college institutions and students. Three separate studies were conducted in this dissertation. Study 1 entailed a systematic literature review centered on…

Seventy-seven California community colleges offer nursing programs with a total enrollment of 12,960 full-time equivalent students in 2017-18, a decrease of 7.4% from the previous fiscal year. Seventy-two colleges received grants to expand or maintain enrollment by 1,439 students. The colleges are using these funds to provide support for nursing…

Seventy-seven California community colleges operate registered nursing programs, enrolling a statewide total of 14,010 full-time equivalent students in 2016-17, an increase of 3.6 percent from the previous school year. Of the 77 colleges with nursing programs, 74 were awarded state funds to expand the enrollment capacity of nursing programs and to…

The California Community Colleges serves more than 2.1 million students each year and is the largest system of higher education in the nation. The state's 113 community colleges are charged with providing workforce training, basic skills education and preparing students to transfer to four-year postsecondary institutions. Seventy-seven California…

Over the previous two decades, state lawmakers have made two fundamental changes to how they finance their public universities. They have shifted more of the costs of higher education to students and their families through higher tuition rates; and created new grant programs that are not solely based on financial need but require prior…

Objective: This study examines whether Louisiana's performance-based funding (PBF) implementation in 2011 impacts various academic outcomes at community colleges, and whether the impact varies for institutions with higher proportions of underrepresented students. Method: Using institutional-level panel data between 2006 and 2016, I employ…

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 Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) adopted the Master Plan for Tennessee Postsecondary Education 2015-2025 in 2015. Published as Tennessee was launching the Drive to 55, the 2015-2025 Plan includes state and system-level projections of the necessary degree production to reach our state's ambitious attainment goal. As a complement to…

This year's "Tennessee Higher Education Fact Book" consists of four sections and an appendix of additional resources and terminology. The four main sections of the report provide data on Student Participation, Student Success, Academic and Fiscal Trends, and Outcomes-Based Funding. Relative to the previous Fact Book, Quality Assurance…

Higher education enhances Californians' lives and contributes to the state's economic growth. But population and education trends suggest that California is facing a large shortfall of college graduates. Addressing this short­fall will require strong gains for groups that have been historically under­represented in higher education. Substantial…