In this paper, we employ Punctuated Equilibrium Theory to consider institutions' shifting goals, priorities, and constraints, and to explore the nature of change at colleges and universities in the United States. By exploiting annual changes in institutional budget decisions over a 29-year period, we seek to understand the extent to which…

This study explores how mid-level administrators working in international student service centers make meaning of their roles and perceive the support their institutions provide. Utilizing critical discourse analysis and the theoretical framework of empowerment, this study reveals the social problems, power struggles, and avenues mid-level…

This study uses "Critical Race Theory," "Settler Colonialism," and "Critical Whiteness Studies" to frame how property is recognized only under the auspices of whiteness. In the college algebra classroom, this is born out through white entitlement, racialized senses of sharing, and resource allocation. This study uses…

Extant research neglects to examine how policymakers make decisions regarding funding allocations to higher education institutions. This case study analyzed the policy process surrounding the development of one model for funding higher education in Colorado. The study is anchored in a theory of policy design, which considers how groups targeted by…

Performance funding policies allocate state appropriations to public institutions based in part on retention and completion outcomes, and equity metrics allocate additional funding for graduating historically underserved students. Through interviews of 52 college administrators and state policymakers, I explore campus responses to performance…

Our fixed-effects panel data analysis of state spending on higher education fills a near void of studies examining capital expenditures on higher education. In our study, we found that political characteristics (e.g., interest group activity, organizational structure, and formal powers) largely account for differences between general fund and…

In this article, we explore how partisanship affects state higher education policy priorities and expenditures. We assume that party coalitions are heterogeneous and policy preferences/priorities differ via mediating factors. We find that Democratic Party strength positively affects state funding for higher education but that the effect diminishes…

Institutional prestige is an inherent part of higher education in the U.S., resulting in rankings that often become the rationale for resource allocation including research grants and increased admission applications. While the desire for prestige and high rankings are important to research universities, the reality is that not all universities…

This study focuses on the differences in college student dropout behavior among racial/ethnic groups. We employ event history methods and data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) and National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) surveys to investigate how financial aid may differentially influence dropout risks among these student…

Public higher education's changing financial environment is well documented. Facing shrinking budgets, competing priorities, public resistance to increasing state levies, and prohibitions on deficit spending, state legislators more and more often find themselves in the unenviable position of debating the relative essentiality of state services,…

A systematic procedure is described whereby private colleges may establish long-range objectives and allocate their limited resources to programs that are most productive in fulfilling these objectives. Results of the actual application of this system to a private college are reported. (Editor)

The concept of formula funding, the events leading to its development, the forces currently acting on formula funding, and anticipated trends are examined. All indications are that formula budgeting will continue and intensify in use. Certain needed refinements are suggested that stress flexibility. (Editor/LBH)

Discusses the theory of administrative cost accounting known as "internal pricing" for the purpose of describing how it is currently affecting the operations of academic departments. (Author)

Analysis of the relationship between performance data and changes in faculty size of 40 departments in a College of Arts and Sciences during a time of financial stress found that the rational choice model was applied to decision making. There was a systematic relationship between objective, evaluative data and policy decisions. (MLW)