Higher education has long been seen as a vehicle for social mobility for individuals and an engine for national advancement. Yet, over the years, as governments worldwide have faced competing priorities and declining revenues due to economic challenges, funding for post-secondary institutions has been negatively impacted. For example, in the…

This document records testimony from a hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor that was held to examine Budget Cuts and Lost Learning: Assessing the Impact on COVID-19 on Public Education. Member statements were provided by: (1) Honorable Virginia Foxx, Ranking Member, Committee on Education and Labor; and (2) Honorable Robert C.…

We evaluate the demand and supply side effects of a policy which cuts funding to a significant portion of publicly funded private classes in Portugal, "Contratos de Associação" (AC), in which students do not pay tuition fees and are under the same admission criteria as in Public Schools -- i.e., these private schools cannot select…

On July 23, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed a new rule that will restrict eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. On its own, the proposal will cut access to food assistance for about 3.1 million low income Americans, which will have significant consequences for individuals and families struggling…

The article is an analysis which focuses on the years after the Great Recession, to show the interplay between federal and state policies. The first year after American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) federal stimulus funds ended, Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, coincided with new federal Pell Grant eligibility restrictions. State appropriations for…

Budgets are moral documents, reflecting our priorities as a nation by deciding where to allocate resources. Congress is targeting cuts and policy changes that limit access to health care, nutrition programs, and basic financial stability for millions of children, including Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the…

Community social capital is an important mechanism for collective efficacy and civic engagement to address problems of public concern. Using panel data from four periods spanning nearly 20 years, this study investigated the effects of a federal policy supporting service-learning in higher education on community social capital as measured by an…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of proposed budget cuts on NASA's education mission broadly and on NASA's Office of Education / STEM Engagement specifically. Throughout the four years of the Trump Administration, executive budgets proposed the orderly shutdown of the Office of Education and the elimination of its suite of…

This brief is part of Education Law Center's "Tracking State Aid Cuts in the Pandemic" series. In June 2020, amid the economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Georgia Legislature enacted a 10% cut in state aid for K-12 public education totaling $950 million. The cut applied equally to all school districts, without regard…

This brief is part of Education Law Center's "Tracking State Aid Cuts in the Pandemic" series. Michigan schools have struggled with reductions in funding over the last decade. In July, the Michigan Legislature approved a state aid cut of $175 per pupil, totaling $256 million. The cut was applied equally to all districts, from those with…

New America and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) partnered to track responses of state higher education agencies and systems on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected state funding for public higher education. The pandemic has depressed economic activity and led to increased costs for states, both of which can…

The coronavirus pandemic has emptied campuses and left many students facing an uncertain educational future. Particularly vulnerable are Black and Latinx students, who are significantly more likely than whites to report that they have canceled or changed their education plans during the pandemic. The $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief &…

Facing a 32% drop in state funding of higher education over the last decade, state universities are reluctant to raise tuition and, even if willing, many state governments have placed limits on how much tuition could be raised. If teaching and research are normal goods in the utility functions of university presidents, public universities must…

The United States and Pennsylvania economies remain deeply depressed compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. While the unemployment rate has come back down to around 7% (7.3% in Pennsylvania, 6.9% in the U.S.), Pennsylvania had 488,000 fewer jobs in October than February and the U.S., 10 million fewer. With COVID case rates higher than ever and…

This brief looks at how Pennsylvania distributed $174 million to Pennsylvania's public school districts in K-12 funding from the CARES Act that the federal government left up to states to allocate. The legislature and the Wolf administration agreed to distribute a fixed amount per district plus distribution of the remaining funds based on…