Higher education is a critical tool for social mobility, but today, students and their families face significant challenges. It is against this backdrop that the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) convened the Task Force on Higher Education Financing and Student Outcomes. This group has identified several areas of federal policy ripe for reform that…

In an era of billions of dollars in outstanding student loan debt, researchers have posited that the U.S. News & World Report rankings continue to be an influential source of information for prospective students, yet these rankings do not include college affordability metrics in their ranking algorithm. As a result, this study performed a…

Since the Great Recession, a number of public colleges and universities have become operationally vulnerable. In this article, the authors point to two related processes leading to this crisis in public higher education. The first is the recent deterioration of operational conditions for a number of public colleges and universities. The second…

The 2020 General Assembly directed the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to develop a plan for implementing a statewide survey of institutional expenditures by program and academic discipline at Virginia's public higher education institutions, and submit a report and recommendations to the Governor and the Chairs of the House…

State and district policymakers have difficult decisions ahead in their efforts to balance budgets, maintain school services, and prioritize safety amid the COVID-19 recession. While California's finances are stronger today than after the Great Recession a decade ago, funding for the school system is still volatile, and K-12 schools could face…

Two distinct literature bases exist documenting the benefits of study aboard participation and state-adopted merit-aid policies. However, few, to date, have estimated the impact of merit-aid adoption on study abroad participation. Results from our study demonstrate the potential positive externality merit-aid policy adoption has on study abroad…

Contrary to the overall tendency to increase student participation in the financing of higher education, Estonia abolished student tuition fees in 2013. We study the effects of this reform on the students' access to and progress in higher education, concentrating mostly on the changes in probabilities of rural and remote students being admitted…

Great public schools provide opportunity for children, their families, communities and the entire state. All children, regardless of ZIP code, race or family income deserve to be educated in a fully and fairly funded school. Yet for many years Ohio lawmakers have fallen short. Even as policymakers have required public schools to do more, they…

During the pandemic, there have been bipartisan calls for dramatically increased public funding for early education and care (EEC). As that money is being invested, more needs to be done to make it easier for families to exercise true choice--in which they have affordable, accessible, and high-quality options and the information they need to make…

Across the country, millions of students that were expected to enroll in school last Fall did not show up. Public schools are searching for these "missing students" and working to get them back to school, either virtually or brick and mortar. The enrollment drop stands to impact more than just the missing students. Education funding…

On the brink of closure, California's Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) requires critical attention. DJJ's inherent flaws and high costs led state leaders to heed long-standing calls for the closure of its youth correctional institutions in favor of local alternatives, a process known as juvenile justice realignment. DJJ stopped most youth…

First-generation and low-income students more often find pursuing and completing a college degree challenging, compared to their second-generation peers who come from higher income households. However, in order to mitigate the challenges faced by this marginalized group of students, opportunity programs, such as New Jersey's Educational…

Stewardship of place refers to the public engagement activities and approaches colleges and universities enact to enhance the regions and communities they serve. A group of colleges and universities known as regional comprehensive universities (RCUs) has been uniquely committed to stewardship of place throughout their histories. As state-supported…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of public policy decisions in each state that contribute to public higher education funding levels and funding distributions across states and…

Many welfare programs give greater benefits to unmarried individuals than to a married couple of otherwise identical income. The resulting marriage penalty discourages marriage and rewards single parenthood. Combined marriage penalties across federal and state welfare programs can reach tens of thousands of dollars per year for a given family. One…