In this paper, we report the description and evaluation of an annual workshop titled "Capacity Building Workshops for Competitive S-STEM Proposals from Two-Year Colleges in the Western U.S." which was offered in June of 2019, 2020, and 2021 with the goal of facilitating submissions to the NSF S-STEM program from 2-year colleges (2YCs).…

In 2011, North Carolina implemented a tiered funding model for community colleges in an attempt to address program cost differentiation. In 2014, the funding model changed from a three-tiered model to a four-tiered model with additional funds for courses that address skills gaps and lead to higher-wage jobs. The purpose of this study was to…

U.S. rural community colleges serve approximately 3.4 million students, yet there is very little research on these institutions. We conducted a mulitple case study to develop a typology of rural community college locations. We gathered and analyzed publicly available data (n = 25) and private institutional data (n = 6) and conducted in-person…

Noncredit community college enrollment accounts for approximately 40% of all enrollment in the two-year sector, or five million students (American Association of Community Colleges, 2016). Yet, this population is seldom discussed in the higher education literature due to inconsistent definitions, funding, and data reporting at the state level.…

The recession prompted reflection on how resource allocation decisions contribute to the performance of community colleges in the United States. Private benchmarking initiatives, most notably those established by the National Higher Education Benchmarking Institute, can only partially begin to address this question. Empirical and financial…

Given the importance of community and technical colleges to state education attainment and workforce development goals, policy addressing the two-year sector is of critical importance to state policymakers. Analysis of legislative issue trends suggests transfer and articulation, performance-based funding, and financial aid programs are substantial…

Since the initiation of performance funding in Tennessee in the late 1970s, approximately 30 states have, at some point, attempted a funding model that includes performance on a set of indicators. The purpose of the present study was to capture the current status of performance funding in public statewide community college systems and to assess…

Performance-based funding (PBF) models intend to increase efficiency and productivity of the institution, thereby influencing organizational change. This change may be structural, programmatic, or procedural, and it may affect institutional practice and/or policy. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the organizational…

During the last 25 years, there has been a major shift in the way that state and federal governments fund financial aid to students attending colleges and universities. This shift has been characterized by the idea of "cost sharing"--a "high tuition, high aid" model that requires students and their families to shoulder a greater percentage of the…