While aspirations to attend college are now more common among high school students, the opportunity to pursue higher education and complete a degree in order to enjoy the lifelong benefits of a college education varies widely by students’ race and socioeconomic background. Through financial support of public institutions, tax benefits for private institutions, student financial aid, and regulation of the higher education marketplace, state governments have the potential to mitigate these inequities for their residents. Yet with wide variation in how states fund, regulate, and govern their higher education systems, states also have different records of successfully educating a diverse student body.
Through a partnership with the Joyce Foundation, Ithaka S+R is evaluating the efficacy of a wide range of state policies in expanding college opportunity and closing attainment gaps.
Issue Briefs and Reports
- It’s Complicated: The Relationship between Postsecondary Attainment and State Finances
- Reimagining State Higher Education Funding: Recommendations from the Ithaka S+R Convening
- An Overview of State Higher Education Funding Approaches: Lessons and Recommendations
- Policies to Ensure Equitable Access to Well-Resourced Colleges and Universities
- Raising the Bar: What States Need to Do to Hit Their Ambitious Higher Education Attainment Goals
- Expanding Pathways to College Enrollment and Degree Attainment: Policies and Reforms for a Diverse Population
- The Strategic Alignment of State Appropriations, Tuition, and Financial Aid Policies
- Setting a North Star: Motivations, Implications, and Approaches to State Postsecondary Attainment Goals
Interviews and Blog Posts
- A New Report Examining the Relationship between Postsecondary Attainment and State Finances
- Reimagining the Future of Higher Education Funding
- An Interview with Dr. Stella Flores: Policies to Ensure Equitable Access to Well-Resourced Colleges and Universities
- Does Setting an Attainment Goal Move the Needle on Postsecondary Attainment?
- New Report and Forecasting Tool Shows States’ Progress towards Postsecondary Attainment Goals
- An Interview with Dr. Alexandra W. Logue: Expanding Pathways to College Enrollment and Degree Attainment
- An Interview with Dr. Dominique Baker: The Strategic Alignment of State Appropriations, Tuition, and Financial Aid Policies
- An Interview with Dr. David Tandberg: “North Star” Attainment Goals