State support for higher education: how changing the distribution of funds could improve college completion rates

This paper, prepared for the National Commission on Financing 21st Century Higher Education, presents a detailed analysis of trends in state support for higher education in the US since 1988. It presents evidence on how the distribution of state appropriations varies by institution type and, by extension, students. Moreover, this paper describes how state support for public higher education has changed over time. The paper provides new information about the declining role of state appropriations and highlights critical differences in how these changes affect the degree to which institutions (and students) are affected. Finally, this analysis considers the implications of these funding patterns and reductions in state support. Increasing the resources committed to public institutions and addressing current funding inequities could help the US make significant progress towards the goal of increasing the number of adults who achieve postsecondary credentials.

The University of Virginia Miller Center created the non-partisan commission in 2014 to recommend policy and funding changes to help the US attain the goal of 60 per cent of the labor force with a postsecondary degree or certificate by 2025. With support from Lumina Foundation, the commission was tasked with developing policy proposals aimed at providing long-term sustainable finance models for US higher education. To learn more about these issues, the commission engaged highly qualified experts to create 10 white papers on different dimensions of the higher education problem. The Commission suggests that higher education needs new financing options to increase educational attainment for all students, but particularly for low income students and students of color and to encourage innovative, high-quality, lower-cost forms of teaching and instruction.

Edited excerpts from publisher's website and publication. Show less