The Effect of State Support on Educational Attainment

Public higher education in the United States is of particular interest as state governments are forced to cut spending in the face of lower revenues during this currently unstable economic period. Higher education funding is not immune to these cuts, and universities will have to manage with less government funding. Additionally, tuition growth rates continue to outpace inflation. With student loan markets strained from the credit crisis, public universities will struggle with increasing tuition to minimize funding gaps, while keeping college affordable. The focus of this Capstone project was on the effects produced by variation in state support for higher education, both over time and among states. Through appropriations, states have been able to fund public higher education institutions, and the Capstone team examined the effects of changes in state higher education support on the rate of educational attainment at higher education institutions.