This paper examines how colleges respond to the introduction of broad merit aid programs. Previous research has emphasized the impact of merit aid on enrollment, student choices, and post-matriculation outcomes. Yet much less is known about how state-implemented merit aid programs affect colleges' financial decisions. To explore impacts, college…

Historians have often recognised important links between the processes of university and civil service reform in mid-nineteenth-century England. Yet such connections are usually seen as forming part of a wider project of modernising reform with any conservative or counter-revolutionary aims largely discounted. However, as this article suggests,…

In November 1996, forty-five higher education technology leaders convened in Washington, D.C., to discuss the virtual university (VU). The Western Governors Association had announced establishment of the Western Governors University (WGU). As a result, VU initiatives were emerging from, or being contemplated by, almost every state-level higher…

Prior to 2003, virtual universities were being created at a rate that would question the usual perception that higher education rarely changed, or changed (if at all) at a glacial speed. No comprehensive study of what was actually being created had been done; nor had anyone tapped the experiences of the developers in the states to see what was…

People do not want to know the history, minutiae of policy, or operations, or even the political intrigues of a virtual consortium. People want to know if the consortium has value, whether it can help them, and if it is a threat. In this article, the author focuses on the operating principles and policies that have proven successful in the…

This case study reviews the emergence and evolution of eCore (the University System of Georgia's electronically delivered undergraduate core courses) over eight years and summarizes the issues, ongoing challenges, and lessons learned from interinstitutional collaboration in offering and administering a "virtual" shared core. The bulk of…

This report provides a history of the California Cross-Enrollment Program, presents an analysis of institutional and student participation in the program, and makes some recommendations for its continuation. The Cross-Enrollment Program permits any students who is enrolled at lest half time in any campus of the California Community Colleges, the…

The enactment and early implementation of remedial education policy reform was examined in Massachusetts and Oklahoma. The study also addressed the question of why "stakes for students" is an increasingly attractive option in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education reform. In these states, as in others, the high levels of…

This article provides a synopsis of how articulation agreements serve postsecondary education institutions and their constituents, provides an overview on the types of agreements, and discusses some of the issues associated with development of these agreements. The following questions frame the narrative: As community colleges grew in number and…

This report traces the history and accomplishments of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education over the past 12 years, during 3 state administrations. In the early 1990s, as the Commonwealth was feeling the impact of recession, the perceived quality of the system was declining, as were enrollments and retention. State policymakers and leaders…

This book describes the history of the University of Hawaii and higher education in Hawaii in the 20th century. Main topics include educational leaders, faculty, students, program development, educational expansion, and historical context. Part 1 traces the development of the Manoa Campus and the university system throughout the century. Included…

Between 1972 and 1974, Oregon adopted a series of comprehensive State Minimum Standards popularly titled "competency-based education." This paper addresses two types of research agendas that have emerged relative to these attempts to create a statewide reform. The first involves an ongoing research project whose purpose is to facilitate…

Dual credit, the approach by which students receive both high school and college credit for the same course, has received enormous attention in recent years. The original intent of dual credit was to provide more challenging curricula to academically prepared high school students. Over the past three decades, the target recipients of the program…

This case study, part of the State Structures for the Governance of Higher Education study, focuses on governance and related issues in Illinois' higher education system. The study's overall purpose was to examine differences among states in their governance structures, and to determine if differences in performance were related to governing…

Designed for students, parents, and counselors, this timely work addresses the present state of affirmative action in higher education after the landmark decisions of "Gratz v. Bollinger" and "Grutter v. Bollinger." Informative chapters provide an overall understanding of the history of affirmative action in higher education in…