We examine changes in public funding and student access, and the role resource capacity plays in access to higher education by students in two public universities in Africa namely the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, and the University of Ghana, Ghana. The public funding of higher education and student access in South Africa and Ghana…

Regional Comprehensive Universities (RCUs) are public institutions established to facilitate access, student-centeredness, and regional wellbeing, which has led scholars to call them the "people's universities." This study examined the histories of RCUs between 1970 and 2000, using qualitative inquiry and narrative analysis of data from…

Over the last two decades, public appropriations for Illinois have been cut in half, increasing tuition and fees for students and contributing to college population declines, underemployment, and hundreds of millions in lost future tax revenue. This document explains the issues facing public university funding in Illinois and lays out the case for…

Illinois has enacted legislative policies to provide access to higher education and state funding opportunities for undocumented students. Public Act 093-0007, Illinois RISE Act, and Illinois House Bill 3438 all have implications for Illinois four-year public universities and community colleges. This dissertation focused on understanding the…

U.S. public master's institutions (PMIs) face conflicting imperatives to strive for prestige while democratizing college access for racially minoritized students. By elevating the former over the latter, critics note, these campuses may emulate their world-class peers for legitimacy and resources. Consequently, the dominant perspective links…

Segregation is often seen in terms of race. However, it can also be based on socioeconomic status. Public colleges and universities in the U.S. had highly divergent responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite operating under similar health and legal considerations, campuses at most elite institutions were treated as essential functions while the…

The massification of higher education in Argentina has created a central dilemma for public universities: how to uphold open access while ensuring that traditional literacy standards do not exclude the most disadvantaged students. This qualitative study examines how writing instructors and program administrators at three public universities in the…

Christopher Martin argues that an interest in strong autonomy supports a right to debt-free higher education and that making tuition free is the best way of enacting that right. We argue that making higher education tuition free would, in the absence of other countervailing measure, maldistribute strong autonomy, even in ideal conditions. We also…

Federal and state policies affecting higher education, like the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1832, Brown vs. Board of Education, and Higher Education Act of 1965 have posited change regarding the proliferation of diversity and expansion of access (Thelin, 2011). I analyzed BOT policies for enrollment and conducted a socio-diagnostic CDA on the…

We compiled the first longitudinal data set with detailed state funding information to examine whether different funding strategies for public higher education correlate with college access and completion, with a focus on outcomes among racially minoritized students. We found no relationships between funding mechanisms and student outcomes at…

Education abroad is considered a high-impact practice with short-term benefits such as intellectual development and higher retention and university graduation rates, along with more long-term benefits such as personal and professional development. Thus, it is important to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to study abroad; however,…

In December 2023, TICAS published new research on the College Affordability Gap--the gap between students' total cost of attendance and non-loan aid available to them--in California, Michigan, and New York, with a focus on students eligible for Pell Grants. Our new report builds on this research with data from nine additional states (Colorado,…

In this article, Jackson Toby discusses President Biden's proposal for free community college and substantial subsidies at public four-year colleges. Toby points out that if Biden means to require the beneficiaries to demonstrate that they have enough aptitude to graduate if they choose to study, the idea would be in the tradition of Thomas…

This brief is part of the Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, and Empowering Action initiative. The brief describes the emerging practice of direct admissions, including how the practice has been designed, what outcomes it has produced, and considerations for policymakers debating the implementation of a direct admissions program in their state…

Despite the expansion of higher education and the growing number of students from disadvantaged socioeconomic background and/or from ethnic minorities who now access university places, inequalities in access to higher education based on social class and origin remain a challenge. This article analyses the Polytechnic Universities in Mexico,…