Education Commons^™

Student Loan Debt: Exploring The Economic Influences On Federal Student Loan Default For Students That Attended Public, Two-Year Institutions, Brian Perry

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Over the past 30 years, a shift occurred in higher education that saw more of the burden for paying for postsecondary education placed on students. Combined with rising tuition and fees, this has led students to take on increasing amounts of student debt. Despite the historic rise in student loans, surprisingly little attention has focused on those students who default on their student loans. Additionally, the academic literature on student loans has predominately focused on traditional students at four-year institutions, despite the fact that nearly half of all undergraduates attend public two-year institutions. Finally, those studies that include economic factors …

Introduction To Special Topic: Rural Education Finance And Policy, Christiana Stoddard, Eugenia F. Toma

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications

This special topic takes stock of the current state of rural education finance and policy research. Taken together the articles in this special topic highlight a major point. Rural districts and schools not only differ from those in urban areas but also differ from one another. This is perhaps not surprising given the heterogeneity of school size, community size, demographics, and the degree of rurality of schools across the United States. The articles pose a challenge for policymakers. Policies that serve one state or one rural community may not be relevant or helpful to another. Policy solutions must recognize the …

Appalachia On The Airwaves: A History Of Public And Educational Television In The Southern Mountains, Carson Benn

Theses and Dissertations--History

Through a series of historical case studies of individual states within the multi-state region of the Appalachian mountain range, as well as the region as a whole, this dissertation examines educational television (ETV) operations, both at the network level and that of individual stations. Though mostly thought of as “public television”—an educational and noncommercial alternative to mainstream broadcast media—these ETV networks offered, I argue, something more analogous to present-day understandings of distance education and the use of instructional media and technology. Station directors, philanthropic benefactors, and school administrators took different approaches to providing the service of ETV, but all were …

Facts And Trends Regarding Performance And Funding Of K-12 In Kentucky, John Garen

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

Kentucky’s K-12 experienced an 80% in increase in per pupil funds, after inflation, from 1990 to 2019. However, there have been only modest changes in its nationally-administered test scores, and no increases in the past decade. Moreover, per pupil funding seems to exceed that of all but the most exclusive private school tuition. Just over one-half of public funds goes directly to instruction and most funds to local schools come from Frankfort. Scoring on Kentucky’s own student assessment tests, the K-PREP, are higher than that of the comparable nationally-administered tests. Also, K-PREP shows improvement, while the other tests do not. …

Educational Test Scores, Education Spending, And Productivity In Public Education: National Trends And Evidence Across States And Over Time, 1990-2015, John Garen, Rex Bray

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

We examine national trends in educational funding, test score outcomes, and productivity as well as variations in funding and test scores over time and across states to assess how changes in educational spending are (or are not) related to changes in educational test score outcomes for states. National trends show small increases in test scores, large increases in educational funding (until the last recession), and a continued fall in educational productivity. The cross-state, over time analysis indicates a statistically significant but very small association of state funding to test scores; so small that large changes in funding have little effect …

The Allocation Of State Appropriations And Students Across Different Types Of Public Institutions Of Higher Education, Joshua L. Bush

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Public higher education has evolved over time under the control of each individual state. The public system in each state is made up of distinctive types of institutions that together provide higher education in different formats. Public institutions may largely be classified into three groups based on the level of education provided including community colleges, regional institutions, and research universities. While the institutions employed are largely the same in each state, the extent to which each is utilized and the support given reflect the individual characteristics of the state.

This dissertation examines appropriations and enrollments by state and year in …

State Subsidy Composition In Higher Education: Policy And Impacts, Alex Eugene Combs

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Higher education is the third largest state expenditure behind K-12 and Medicaid but is generally more discretionary than most other budget categories. As demographic trends and economic downturns constrain state budgets, the delivery of state subsidies in higher education has increasingly shifted toward students via grant aid and away from institutions via appropriations. Since the 1990s, many states have changed the composition of their state subsidies in higher education to varying degrees.

There is a rich literature that examines the effects of state subsidies on various aspects of the higher education market. This dissertation aims to contribute to the literature …

Do Intercollegiate Athletics Subsidies Correlate With Educational Spending? An Empirical Study Of Public Division-I Colleges And Universities, Michael J. Rudolph

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Intercollegiate athletics are a prominent feature of American higher education. They have been characterized as the “front door” to the university due to their unique ability to draw alumni and other supporters to campus. It is often supposed that the exposure from high-profile athletics produces a number of indirect benefits including greater institutional prestige. Such exposure comes at a cost, however, as most Division I athletics programs are not financially self-sufficient and receive institutional subsidies to balance their budgets. At present, it is unclear how institutions budget for athletics subsidies or whether the recent increases in subsidies have impacted the …

Then And Now: An Analysis Of Broad-Based Merit Aid Initial Eligibility Policies After Twenty Years, William K. Ingle, Jason R. Ratliff

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

Using Hall’s framework of policy changes, we sought to document and classify changes in initial eligibility and award provisions of broad-based merit aid scholarship programs at inception and present day. Our analysis revealed five first-order changes, two second-order changes, and only one third order change. Although the policy settings, instruments, and goals remained static in five states, the scholarship dollars in four of them have not kept up with increases in overall cost of attendance.

“Warming Up” In The Developmental Sequence? Upward Transfer Conditional On Dependency Status, Cody Davidson, Kristin B. Wilson

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

The purpose of this study was to determine predictor factors of upward transfer for Kentucky community college students enrolled in a developmental algebra course. For independent students, a mother with a college degree, a declared major, a federal work-study position, greater adjusted gross income, and a higher grade point average was positively correlated with upward transfer. For dependent students, a father with a college degree, a declared major, and a higher grade point average was positively correlated with upward transfer.