Thread by @kelly_rosinger

New paper on state higher education funding approaches with @InformEdStates' @rkelchen @bakerdphd @JustinOrtagus @LitchMingo in @AeraOpen (1/N) journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117…

States broadly support higher ed primarily through appropriations to public colleges that can be used to maintain relatively low tuition levels & funds for financial aid to reduce prices for students (2/N)

State higher education funding debates have sometimes centered around 2 approaches: high tuition w targeted aid vs broadly subsidizing public colleges to maintain low tuition levels (3/N)

We know relatively little about how states balance commitments to broadly subsidizing public colleges vs turning to high tuition with targeted aid, especially over recessionary periods (4/N)

We draw on data from the last two decades to document, describe, & categorize profiles of states based on their higher ed funding approach. We find 3 main approaches that reflect variations of the 2 broader approaches previously identified (5/N)

But state commitments to public colleges, low tuition, & student financial aid may change during recessionary periods as states face budget shortfalls, so we explored changes in the trajectory of state funding approaches over time (6/N)

We find recessions have meant state retractions from commitments to funding public colleges & universities & increased tuition w/o similar-sized increases in state need-based aid, regardless of whether states embraced broad subs & low tuition vs high tuition w targeted aid (7/N)

Retractions took 2 forms: 1) steady declines in commitment in small # of states w already limited support for higher ed, & 2) states w mod-strong subsidization for public universities attempted to maintain commitments but lost ground as recessions chipped away at budgets (8/N)

Thanks to @GatesUS for supporting this work and to the reviewers and editorial team @AeraOpen!