Donald E. Heller

The states and public higher education policy : affordability, access, and accountability

Among the many challenges facing US higher education today, affordability, access and accountability are increasingly commanding the attention of the public and policymakers alike. As students and their families struggle to meet rising tuition prices and state resources for the funding of higher education are constrained, policymakers confront issues of affordability within state and institutional budgets. Changing demographics and challenges to affirmative action complicate the admissions process even as colleges and universities seek to diversify enrolments, and issues of institutional accountability have given rise to the restructuring of higher education governing boards and systems and to a re-examination of the role of public trustees in governance. In this book, Donald E. Heller and other higher education scholars and practitioners explore the debates surrounding issues of affordability, access and accountability. In a concluding chapter, Heller considers the impact of technology on public colleges and universities, a subject that dominates many discussions of higher education. Offering a broad perspective that should appeal to policymakers and educators, the book provides an unobstructed view of key issues that will shape the future of higher education.

The Policy Shift in State Financial Aid Programs

The last three decades have seen important changes in how states finance higher education. Rising public sector tuition prices, constrained growth in state appropriations to institutions, and the development of new types of student financial aid programs have altered the funding landscape in many states. These changes have occurred as other factors — including demographic shifts, increased accountability demands, and the transformational influence of technology — have placed new pressures on public higher education institutions and systems.

Early Commitment of Financial Aid Eligibility

Under the current financial aid system in the United States, most students do not find out the amount of financial aid for which they qualify until after they have applied to college and been admitted. There is evidence that for low-income students, this is too late in the college access and choice process. This article explores the feasibility and challenges of making commitments of financial aid to students earlier in their educational careers (such as during the middle school or early high school years) to encourage them to focus on the academic and social aspects of preparing for college entry.

Financial trends in higher education: The United States

Roger L. Geiger, Professor at the Center for the Study of Higher Education, The Pennsylvania State University, PA, United States. Email: rlg9@psu.edu Address: 400 Rackley Building University Park, PA 16802, United States.Donald E. Heller, Director at the Center for the Study of Higher Education, The Pennsylvania State University, PA, United States. Email: dheller@psu.edu Address: 400 Rackley Building University Park, PA 16802, United States. Developments in the financing of American higher education are viewed through the lens of macro-trends since 1990 in the era of privatization. For institutions in both sectors, private and public, privatization has meant increased exposure to market forces. Data on changes during this period are presented.The basic trends in enrollments, revenues and expenditures in institutions of higher education are described. The steady growth in real tuition prices has shifted the financing of higher education from state support to students and their families. This trend would not have been possible without the substantial growth in student financial aid, especially federal student loans. The system of student financial aid is now fundamental to the financing of higher education in the United States. However, its impact and utilization has been different in the private, non-profit sector, in the public sector, and in the private, for-profit sector. In both public and private colleges and universities, expenditures on academic and institutional support outpaced spending on instruction. The authors describe the pressure for ever-more spending among the countrys wealthiest universities, enlargement of the market for selective institutions, and rise of the for-profit sector of higher education. They argue that privatization has assumed quite different dynamics in funding and shaping academic research.The impact of the current economic downturn on the public and private sectors of higher education is discussed.

Public Subsidies for Higher Education in California: An Exploratory Analysis of Who Pays and Who Benefits

This study examines the racial and ethnic distribution of the costs and benefits of higher education in California. This exploratory work documents the racial and ethnic distribution of these benefits, in the form of enrollments in different sectors and different types of institutions, as well as on the costs, in the form of the share borne by families versus the state. The study builds on the work of Hansen and Weisbrod, who examined the distribution of costs and benefits for higher education in California for students from different income groups. This study utilizes data from a variety of sources, including the California Postsecondary Education Commission, the California Student Aid Commission, EdFund of California, the National Center for Education Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, and other agencies and departments in California.

High School to College Transition Policy in the American States: Conceptual and Analytic Perspectives on Conducting Across-State Study.

Researchers have paid scant attention to the opportunities and the barriers associated with across-state study of college-transition policies, although the American states comprise a social system especially well suited for comparative analysis. What sorts of questions should researchers ask about college-transition policies and programs? How might these questions be framed conceptually? What data are and are not generally available to researchers? This article examines these questions. Because relatively little comparative-state research on college-transition policies exists, the emphasis is on describing the contemporary policy landscape, identifying broad questions with which to anchor future study, and discussing potential data sources and analytic approaches. The authors argue that researchers should begin asking more empirically oriented questions about both the determinants and the effects of college-transition policies in the states. They contend that both avenues of inquiry pose distinct data and analytic challenges.

The Financial Aid Picture: Realism, Surrealism, or Cubism?

Financial aid for college students has undergone a number of changes throughout the years. This chapter provides a history of financial aid that has been provided by the federal and state governments, colleges, and universities to undergraduate students and how the structure of financial aid programs has changed over time. The metaphor of three art movements is applied—Realism, Surrealism, and Cubism—to analyze the current structure of the nation’s financial aid system to understand how financial aid has been transformed from a focus on meeting the college access needs of low-income students to myriad purposes often in conflict with each other.

The Impact of Gainful Employment Regulations.

The growth over the last decade of the for-profit sector of higher education (also known as the proprietary sector) has been well documented. In 1999, for-profit colleges and universities enrolled approximately 629,000 students, or a little over 4 percent of the nation’s 15.2 million students (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002). By 2009, this sector had increased to 2.2 million students, or almost 11 percent of the nation’s 21 million college students (Knapp, Kelly-Reid, & Ginder, 2011). This gain in market share came at the expense of both public and private not-for-profit colleges. With this growth has come increased scrutiny of the sector, driven in large part by the perception that at least some students attending for-profit colleges are not receiving an adequate education for the money they spend. The scrutiny has come from both the media, which has covered alleged abuses perpetrated by some of the for-profit institutions, and from government. In response, the US Department of Education has issued a series of regulations aimed, at least in part, at reining in some of the alleged abuses. One set of regulations in particular, called the “gainful employment” rules, has received more attention than all the others combined. In this article, I provide a background on the for-profit sector, an explanation of the proposed gainful employment regulations, and an analysis of their likely impact on US higher education more generally.

Changing Student Access Through Strategic Pricing Initiatives

This unique volume discusses the management of transformational change in higher education as a key element of success. With input from researchers, presidents, provosts, and other senior leaders of the higher education community, this edited volume explores transformational change in a range of institutions from small teaching and community colleges to large comprehensive research universities.