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Cover image of What's Happening to Public Higher Education?
Cover image of What's Happening to Public Higher Education?
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What's Happening to Public Higher Education?

The Shifting Financial Burden

edited by Ronald G. Ehrenberg

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Winner, H. S. Warwick Award for Outstanding Public Scholarship, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)

American public higher education appears to be in a state of crisis. Declining funding for public colleges and universities has led to declining faculty salaries relative to those of private institutions and to increasing tuition, threatening access and compromising quality. Ronald G. Ehrenberg and a team of experts examine the current state of public higher education, the public policies that shape it, and what the future may hold for institutions and their students...

Winner, H. S. Warwick Award for Outstanding Public Scholarship, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)

American public higher education appears to be in a state of crisis. Declining funding for public colleges and universities has led to declining faculty salaries relative to those of private institutions and to increasing tuition, threatening access and compromising quality. Ronald G. Ehrenberg and a team of experts examine the current state of public higher education, the public policies that shape it, and what the future may hold for institutions and their students, faculty, and administrators.

Sounding a warning about the declining condition of public higher education, Ehrenberg and his contributors make a compelling case for increasing support for these institutions. An overview of national trends and the forces that drive them is followed by studies of the financial complexities found in representative states (California, Georgia, and Texas, among others), an analysis of the implications of these developments, and prescriptions for improving public higher education at the state and national levels.

In concluding chapters, contributors provide valuable assessments of the critical issues and their practical implications—from state policy initiatives to the privatization of public universities.

Reviews

Reviews

This book provides good discussions of important trends and issues with respect to the financing of public higher education in the United States.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
408
ISBN
9780801887130
Illustration Description
60 line drawings
Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Part I: Setting the Stage
Chapter 1. State Preferences for Higher Education Spending: A Panel Data Analysis, 1977–2001
Chapter 2. Do Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty Matter?
Chapter 3

Preface
Introduction
Part I: Setting the Stage
Chapter 1. State Preferences for Higher Education Spending: A Panel Data Analysis, 1977–2001
Chapter 2. Do Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty Matter?
Chapter 3. The Increasing Use of Adjunct Instructors at Public Institutions: Are We Hurting Students?
Chapter 4. The Effect of Institutional Funding Cuts on Baccalaureate Graduation Rates in Public Higher Education
Part II: Individual State Experiences
Chapter 5. The Effects of a Changing Financial Context on the University of California
Chapter 6. Assessing Public Higher Education in Georgia at the Start of the Twenty-first Century
Chapter 7. Changing Priorities and the Evolution of Public Higher Education Finance in Illinois
Chapter 8. Michigan Public Higher Education: Recent Trends and Policy Considerations for the Coming Decade
Chapter 9. North Carolina's Commitment to Higher Education: Access and Affordability
Chapter 10. State Support for Public Higher Education in Pennsylvania
Chapter 11. The Changing Accessibility, Affordability, and Quality of Higher Education in Texas
Chapter 12. Higher Tuition, Higher Aid, and the Quest to Improve Opportunities for Low-Income Students: The Case of Virginia
Chapter 13. Public Higher Education in Washington State: Aspirations Are Misaligned with Fiscal Structure and Politics
Chapter 14. Consequences of a Legacy of State Disinvestment: Plunging State Support Reduces Access and Threatens Quality at University of Wisconsin System Institutions
Part III: Looking to the Future
Chapter 15. Why We Won't See Any Public Universities "Going Private"
Chapter 16. Concluding Remarks
References
Index
About the Editor and the Contributors

Author Bio
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Featured Contributor

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Ronald G. Ehrenberg is the Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Economics at Cornell University and director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute.