What's Happening to Public Higher Education?

Subjects:

• Education » Higher Education
• Education » Educational Administration & Policy
• Political Science » Public Policy
• Education » Education (General)

Awards:

• CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles, 2006

Reviews:

• With a recent report on the federal government's interest in reforming higher education engendering much discussion these days, this book's publication is timely. This volume is a comprehensive overview of the state of public higher education in the US. It provides an informed data and conceptual profile analysis of the issues facing public higher education, but more importantly, it provides a framework for improving the existing status of public higher education now and in the future. This work evolved from the annual Cornell Higher Education Research Institute (CHERI) conference in spring 2005. This publication consists of three parts. The first four chapters set the stage by providing data on national trends and their effects on students. The second section describes changes in public higher education for individual states and how those changes affect present and future students, faculty, administration, and state legislators, especially in terms of costs. The third section consists of two chapters written by the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin and the president of California State University on what is needed for those and other public institutions to continue to perform their missions. This book is a must for anyone interested in the future of higher education. Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through practitioners.
  —Choice December 2006
• A wide-ranging team of experts examined changes in public higher education over the last quarter-century, and presented their findings at a conference at Cornell University in May 2005. Edited versions of their papers are presented here.
  —Hispanic Outlook Magazine .

• Endorsement From Michael A. Olivas
  William B. Bates Distinguished Chair, University of Houston Law Center
  author of The Law and Higher Education:Cases and Materials on Colleges in Court: To many high schoolers, the consideration of which college they will attend turns on any number of factors: the likelihood of admissibility, vague perceptions of quality, the accidental flow of information that might or might not be accurate or salient, distance from home, what their classmates might think of the choice, and an overall assessment of fit within the institution. To Ronald G. Ehrenberg and his colleagues, another dimension applicants should consider is the "public-ness" of the college, as these alarming findings suggest that public institutions "appear to be in serious trouble." Inasmuch as he is one of the premier analysts of the higher education enterprise, all serious policymakers should heed the various warnings in this book. Some of these trends are downright ominous, and legislators and educators ignore them at their peril.
• Endorsement From Charles T. Clotfelter
  Visiting Scholar
  Russell Sage Foundation: In this book, Ronald Ehrenberg has gathered two dozen experts for a sober assessment of the state of public higher education. In chapters that are rigorous but readable, he and his fellow researchers show that tightened purse strings have often led to less competitive faculty salaries, more use of adjunct faculty, cuts in financial aid for the needy, and higher attrition rates. Happily, there are a few rays of hope, as shown in a series of case studies of individual states.... For an authoritative and current assessment of the status of public higher education, this an essential book to read.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Introduction
• Setting the Stage
• State Preferences for Higher Education Spending: A Panel Data Analysis, 1977-2001, by Michael J. Rizzo
• Do Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty Matter?, by Ronald G. Ehrenberg and Liang Zhang
• The Increasing Use of Adjunct Instructors at Public Institutions: Are We Hurting Students?, by Eric Bettinger and Bridget Terry Long
• The Effect of Institutional Funding Cuts on Baccalaureate Graduation Rates in Public Higher Education, by Gary L. Blose, John D. Porter, and Edward C. Kokkelenberg
• Individual State Experiences
• The Effects of a Changing Financial Context on the University of California, by Gerald R. Kissler and Ellen Switkes
• Assessing Public Higher Education in Georgia at the Start of the 21st Century, by Christopher Cornwell and David B. Mustard
• Changing Priorities and the Evolution of Public Higher Education Finance in Illinois, by F. King Alexander and Daniel Layzell
• Michigan Public Higher Education: Recent Trends and Policy Considerations for the Coming Decade, by Stephen L. DesJardins, Allison Bell, and Iria Puyosa
• North Carolina's Commitment to Higher Education: Access and Affordability, by Betsy E. Brown and Robert L. Clark
• State Support for Public Higher Education in Pennsylvania, by Donald E. Heller
• The Changing Accessibility, Affordability and Quality of Higher Education in Texas, by Lisa M. Dickson
• Higher Tuition, Higher Aid, and the Quest to Improve Opportunities for Low-Income Students: The Case of Virginia, by Sarah Turner
• Consequences of a Legacy of State Disinvestment: Plunging State Support Reduces Access and Threatens Quality at University of Wisconsin System Institutions, by David W. Olien
• Public Higher Education in Washington State: Aspirations Are Misaligned with Fiscal Structure and Politics, by William Zumeta
• Looking to the Future
• Why We Won't See Any Public Universities "Going Private," by John D. Wiley
• Concluding Remarks,, by F. King Alexander
• References
• Index