Future of Higher Education Research Team Blog

The Future of Higher Education Research Team Blog will be used to surface formal and informal research and discussions from journals (articles), books, reports, surveys, blogs, wikis, white papers, conference materials (recorded keynotes, presentations, papers), organization/association websites, Twitter, LISTSERVs about the higher education landscape. Many of the identified resources cited in the developing report’s footnotes and … Read more

Demographic Changes Affecting Higher Ed in New England

Demographic changes are underway that will continue to affect enrollment in higher education institutions.  The number of people in the traditional college student age-range is declining in New England, pointing to an inevitable corollary decline in enrollment numbers for this demographic.  More details about these trends are addressed in the resources below. Chronicle of Higher … Read more

Survey of Administrators on Learning Outcomes Assessment

A little over a year ago, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) came out with the results of a survey of college and university administrators on the subject of learning outcomes assessment.  This was a follow-up to the AAC&U’s 2009 survey on the same topic.  Among the more important findings of the most … Read more

New Conceptions of Scholarship for a New Generation of Faculty Members

In her article, New Conceptions of Scholarship for a New Generation of Faculty Members, Mary Deane Sorcinelli discusses the impact of the work of Ernest Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered, and many of its implications around the issue of tenure. It is suggested that there should be more flexibility around the process and timeline, and more efforts … Read more

DOES THE FORMAT OF A FINANCIAL AID PROGRAM MATTER? THE EFFECT OF STATE IN-KIND TUITION SUBSIDIES

This paper examines the importance of format in aid programs, focusing on state appropriations to public postsecondary institutions. These funds subsidize costs for in-state students, but they may also influence choices between institutions due to their in-kind format. Using the conditional logistic choice model and extensive match-specific information, the paper approximates the choice between nearly … Read more

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS: Study of College Costs and Prices, 1988 – 89 to 1997 – 98

Commissioned Papers: David W. Breneman: An Essay on College Costs D. Bruce Johnstone: Higher Education and Those “Out of Control Costs” Dennis P. Jones: Cost Analysis and the Formulation of Public Policy Lucie Lapovsky: Institutional Financial Health: Tuition Discounting and Enrollment Management Michael McPherson and Morton Owen Schapiro: Issues of Cost and Price in Higher … Read more

THE U.S. MARKET FOR HIGHER EDUCATION: A GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS OF STATE AND PRIVATE COLLEGES AND PUBLIC FUNDING POLICIES

We develop a general equilibrium model of the market for undergraduate higher education that captures the coexistence of public and private colleges, the large degree of quality differentiation among them, and the tuition and admission policies that emerge from their competition for students. The calibrated version of the model matches well the aggregate characteristics of … Read more

Critical Approaches to Women and Gender in Higher Education

Critical Approaches to Women and Gender in Higher Education by Pamela Eddy, Kelly Ward and Tehmina Khwaja, published just last month, raises several important issues relating to gender in higher education. The volume examines the impacts of gender on organizational leadership, faculty and staff, as well as limitations and concerns that impact female students. The chapters in this volume … Read more

Continuing Higher Education and Older Adults: A Growing Challenge and Golden Opportunity

“Educating older adults has been important to adult and continuing education for years, but the reality of a skyrocketing aging population is now upon us. This reality evokes a sense of urgency for adult and continuing educators in higher education to respond.”   There is a body of research that shows that higher education has … Read more

Tuition Discounting: Institutional Aid Patterns at Public and Private Colleges and Universities

Recent data from the College Board’s Annual Survey of Colleges reveal significant variation in institutional aid patterns among colleges and universities. The undergraduate tuition discount rate — the ratio of institutional grant aid to published tuition and fee charges — is higher at private institutions than at public institutions, but there are also notable differences … Read more