The authors of this article describe the effect that cost-cutting policies have had on community college student outcomes and how this has weakened the capacity of those colleges to produce returns to students and taxpayers. Many colleges are instituting reforms to help more students graduate with useful credentials. While these lower the cost per…

In 2011, the Board of Regents (BoR), through the development and implementation of the Master Plan, advanced its vision for the future of postsecondary education by adopting the following three broad goals: (1) Increase the educational attainment of the State's adult population to the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) States' average by…

This report presents tabulations for the 2012 Academic Libraries Survey (ALS) conducted by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the Institute of Education Sciences. The 2012 ALS population included postsecondary institutions with all of the following: total library expenditures that exceed…

In this report, the authors provide a detailed analysis of the major changes in revenue and expenditures in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) 2015 proposed budget, and the manner in which MPS has responded to recent legislative changes and turbulent workforce challenges. The objective is to provide an independent assessment of the district's…

In this article, we present a data set and case study exercise that can be used by educators to teach a range of statistical concepts including Simpson's paradox. The data set and case study are based on a real-life scenario where there was a claim of discrimination based on ethnicity. The exercise highlights the importance of performing rigorous…

The American academic research enterprise relies heavily on contributions made by foreign nationals. Of particular note is the large number of international postdocs employed at universities in the United States (US). Postdocs are among the fastest growing group of academic staff in the US, and over 50% of all postdocs in the US are temporary visa…

While several studies have examined the impact of expenditures on graduation rates in higher education institutions, historically Black colleges and universities have strong government dependencies that suggest that these links might be different than for other universities. This paper investigates these links by estimating the production function…

Private tutoring has been a burgeoning phenomenon in Malaysia for decades. This study examines the determinants of private tutoring expenditures in Malaysia using the 2004/2005 Household Expenditures Survey and applies hurdle regression models to the data. The results indicate that total household expenditures, household head's level of education,…

Since the Coleman Report in 1966, researchers have been analyzing educational resource inputs with respect to district, school, and student level outputs. There has been an increase in federal and state control of local school districts, as demonstrated in the adoption of the Common Core Standards and mandatory national and state assessments. In…

One way districts can enable funding portability is with the use of student-based allocation formulas that allocate funds to districts and schools based on enrollment of students and student types. The student-based allocation model enables "pocketbook power," creating incentives for schools to attract students, keep full enrollment, and…

The purpose of the study was to determine if the allocation of faculty salary expenditures has an influence on first-time, full time freshmen retention rates. The population for this study was all public degree granting undergraduate four-year postsecondary institutions accredited by the Southern Region Education Board in the 16 member states with…

This is one in a series of data briefs developed by the Delta Cost Project at AIR using data from the "IPEDS Analytics: Delta Cost Project Database 1987-2010," which was released on August 14, 2012, by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. The intent of these briefs is to update key tables and…

Learning Management Systems (LMS) have been widely adopted by higher education institutions globally for over a decade. Institutions in sub-Saharan Africa now spend a significant proportion of their limited resources on installing and maintaining these systems. This expenditure continues to increase, raising questions as to whether LMS in these…

As the funding environment for higher education and theological education changes, an increasing number of graduate theological students hold student loan debt that will follow them well into their postgraduation working lives (Delisle, 2014). This study reports the attitudes about money voiced by master of divinity students at one mainline…

The Maine Community College System (MCCS or "System") is comprised of seven colleges, nine campuses, and six off-campus centers that are located within 25 miles of over 90% of Maine's population. The colleges offer one-year certificate and two-year associate degree programs that are designed to lead to direct employment or transfer to a…