Education Commons^™

Sustainability Strategies For Nonprofit Organizations, Ramchand Francisco

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nonprofit leaders face the challenges of ensuring their organizations are financially healthy while navigating economic and organizational issues that require strategies to support program growth with limited financial resources. Grounded in Markowitz’s modern portfolio theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies nonprofit leaders used to support program growth and sustainability with limited financial resources. The study participants were three leaders of a nonprofit organization in the northwest region of the United States who had expertise related to the focus of the research. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, analyses of the client organization’s internal …

Sustainability Strategies For Nonprofit Organizations, Ramchand Francisco

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nonprofit leaders face the challenges of ensuring their organizations are financially healthy while navigating economic and organizational issues that require strategies to support program growth with limited financial resources. Grounded in Markowitz’s modern portfolio theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies nonprofit leaders used to support program growth and sustainability with limited financial resources. The study participants were three leaders of a nonprofit organization in the northwest region of the United States who had expertise related to the focus of the research. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, analyses of the client organization’s internal …

A Study On The Federal Reserve’S Influence On The Stock Market, Patrick Mcfarland

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

With the growing age of the tech economy, post housing crash financial market, and unprecedented challenges like a global pandemic with a death toll in the millions, major financial institutions in the United States have been forced to reconsider many aspects of the old ways of doing things. The most influential institution in the U.S., the Federal Reserve (the Fed), has become more involved with the financial markets over the past several decades. Using a sample of 134 publicly-traded companies, I analyzed variables to assess the effects of the Fed’s new influence on market expectations from the past ten years. …

A Longitudinal Fiscal Analysis Of The K-12 Minnesota Funding Formula From The Fiscal Years 2012 And 2018, Brandon Lunak

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Over the past few decades, modifications and laws have been put in place that has affected the Minnesota funding formula. The purpose of the study was to do a statistical analysis of the general education revenue trend data in regard to the fiscal equity and wealth neutrality. The study focused on a longitudinal study of previous equity studies done in the state of Minnesota. The actual research focused on 331 public operating school districts in Minnesota and the general education revenue trend data relative to wealth neutrality and fiscal equity based on the additional legislation extending the school board’s ability …

Pathways To Leadership: A Qualitative Study Of Women In Higher Education, Kymia Love Jackson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women earn degrees at a higher rate than men, yet they are underrepresented in leadership positions in general and more specifically, in executive leadership positions in the areas of finance, operations, and administration (FOA) in higher education. This qualitative study explored the journeys of women in executive leadership positions in finance, operations, and administration at four-year, public colleges or universities. The research question that guided this study was: How do women describe their experiences of securing, transitioning into, and advancing within executive leadership positions in FOA in higher education? Document and content analysis, demographic questionnaire, observations, interviews, and reflection were …

Public Policy And The Sustainability Of Tanzanian Private Universities, Simon Lucas Taabu

Theses and Dissertations

There has been a surge of universities in general and private universities in particular in the last three decades throughout the world. This expansion has been unanticipated in some countries, but in others especilly in SSA expansion came as a result of public policy change. The current globalization movement can be attributed to most of the reforms taking place in higher education institutions although unique features have been observed in different contries and regions. This expansion has not been paired with resource increase and hence putting quality of education, accessibility, equality and quality issues into question. Scholars have expressed doubts …

School Optimism: Fast Life And Slow Debt In The Financialized University, Mark Alan Porter Webb

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the past two decades, educational debt has quickly transformed US colleges and universities into spaces of cruel optimism: the higher education that students desire is all too often an obstacle to their flourishing. This study maps the contours of the white, middle-class attachment to the college dream, paying particular attention to the moments when the optimism surrounding higher education turns cruel. As this optimism wanes in the face of mounting educational debt, students deploy a myriad of fast life strategies—a flurry of actions that include work, activism, protest, leaving school and/or satirical critique—with the hope of mitigating the impact …

Association Between Fiscal Effort Above Required Local Effort And Accreditation In Virginia Schools, Daniel C. Soderholm

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

This study expands on previous research regarding the adequacy of educational funding in order to reach a desired academic outcome. Specifically, this study examines Virginia policies of Standards of Quality and Standards of Accreditation to see if local fiscal effort above the minimum required by Virginia has an association to the desired minimum academic outcome of school accreditation.

The research in this study shows that when using a linear regression analysis or an ANCOVA there is no relationship between effort above Required Local Effort (RLE) and the percentage of students attending an accredited school. However, when looking at the non-linear …

Addressing The Lack Of Awareness Regarding The Various Resources To Finance A College Education, Corin Rau

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

While there are many different resources to assist students with paying for college, some may not understand the different types that are available for them to utilize, be unaware of the requirements that are necessary to be eligible for certain types of funding, or may accept loans that they do not actually know much about. This possible lack of knowledge may lead to financial stress during and after college. The goal of this project was to have the participants meet three learning outcomes: 1) indicate the types of funding they will use to pay for college in the future,, 2) …

Finance Day At Ua, Shelby Amatangelo

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Financial stability cannot be built overnight. It takes years of working, saving, investing and planning to develop and maintain financial stability. However, one poor financial decision can destroy a person’s financial stability that they spent years creating. Over 25% of high school students believe that they will be unprepared to manage their finances upon high school graduation (Cooley, 2013). While 43 states require that K-12 standards in financial literacy, only 35 of them are required to be implemented (Heath, 2016). Furthermore, only 17 states require that a high school course in personal finance be taken to graduate and only 6 …

Financial Management Issues Of College-Aged Students: Influences And Consequences, Katharine N. Widener

Selected Honors Theses

College students have acquired a reputation of irresponsibility and impulsivity, which has contributed to the perception that they are poor managers of money. This researcher sought to establish a clearer picture of the full story behind how college students handle their finances through a comprehensive literature review. Several searches were conducted on the topics of college students, finances, money management, debt levels, and other related terms. Scholarly articles were analyzed for common themes and research patterns, and the various strings of research identified were categorized into three main headings: Financial situation, financial influences, and financial consequences. The three major headings …

A Study Of The Factors Involved And The Strategies Employed By Michigan School Districts In Developing Deficit Elimination Plans, Sue C. Carnell

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to study the factors that contribute to financial deficits, examine the strategies used to reduce deficits, and explore the barriers that may prohibit the reduction of financial deficits. As part of legislative mandates, school superintendents are faced with creating a deficit elimination plan to reduce the financial deficits facing their districts. In 2013, the State of Michigan began to shut down financially challenged districts for the first time. School districts labeled as “deficit districts” struggled to remove the designation assigned to them. Fifty-eight traditional Michigan public school districts with financial deficits between school years …

Graduate Student Financial Support : An Empirical Profile, Thomas Enderlein

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study investigated how U.S. graduate students financed their Master’s and doctoral programs in 2011-2012. In particular, it focused on students who were eligible to receive Federal financial aid and loans during that year, using a sample of graduate students included in the restricted-use version of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. This study rests its analyses and situates extant literature largely against Human Capital Theory, with return on investment as an underlying rationale for the allocation and use of different forms of Non-family, Non-repayable support for graduate studies. The goal of the study was to sort out the extent …

Relationships Between Business Planning And Reaching Forecasted Sales Objectives For New England Farmers, Kenny Roberts

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the last 100 years, more than 3 million small farming operations have been replaced by large factory farms in America. This shift toward food production by conglomerations has led to severe environmental issues, food security hazards, and economic hardship in farming communities nationwide. This study investigated the extent to which a written business plan could help small farming operations meet their sales objectives and ultimately continue to operate; this study also examined the perceptions of farm owners regarding the ability of a business plan to affect sales objectives. The sample consisted of 71 Maine Farms for Future (FFF) recipients …

An Analysis Of The Impact Of The Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (E-Splost) On Capital Outlay Expenditures In Georgia School Districts, Robert Bradley Benson

Dissertations

In 1996, legislators approved an amendment to the Georgia Constitution which granted local Boards of Education the authority to seek voter approval for a 1% Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (E-SPLOST). Revenues from E-SPLOST were to be used exclusively for capital expenses or to retire debt incurred as a result of capital expenses. This study examined eight years of per pupil expenditure data to determine the impact of the E-SPLOST.

The data indicated that differences in per pupil expenditures for instructional equipment were significant, revealing a reduction post E-SPLOST. Further, expenditures for new construction and improvements to …

U.S. School Quality: The Public Benefits Of Primary And Secondary Education, Anita P. Yadavalli

Open Access Dissertations

Three essays focus on the various measurements of school quality and its importance in motivating people's location choices, their interest in school improvement, and their ability to fund additional school expenditures. The first essay examines hedonic housing price studies to dissect the mixed evidence on whether school quality affects housing prices. The chapter employs meta-regression analysis on 48 studies and finds that studies which measured school quality using any of eight measures, including educational expenditures, tend to find a positive correlation with housing prices. Additionally, published studies tend to find a higher correlation than unpublished studies. The second essay aims …

The Economics Of Financing Education And Gender Composition Of Schools : Retention And Learning Outcomes In Public Primary Schools Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Kp) Province, Pakistan, Bushra Rahim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of school-level factors (physical resources, teachers’ and schools’ characteristics) and system-level factors (delegation of financial authority to public primary schools through Parent Teacher Councils (PTCs)) on two educational outcomes - retention rates to the last grade of primary school and learning outcomes - in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, one of the least‐developed and conflict-affected provinces in Pakistan.

State Funding Decision-Making For Higher Education Institutions During Capital Campaigns, Everrett Alexander Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Public higher education has experienced a decline in state funding in real dollars. This has created financial challenges for many students and their families, as well as institutions.

Tax revenue has decreased as a result of the economic recession, causing state leaders to reprioritize their fiscal responsibilities. Higher education has been viewed as a discretionary expense in competition with other state programs, so funding can, and often, does vary. Colleges and universities use alternative financial resources, most notably private fundraising, to meet their goals. The study was conducted to identify college leaders' perceptions of state funding during their institution's mega-capital …

Federal Aid And College Success Of Students In The Community College, Jana Lee Jenkins Causey

Dissertations

Financial aid helps many students gain access to college, and the federal government spends a great deal of money to fund financial aid programs. Community colleges serve a large amount of students who enter the higher education system and there is very limited published research that provides conclusive evidence as to whether or not financial aid promotes success in community college students. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship of federal need-based aid with the achievement of community college students by analyzing grade point averages, earned semester hours, and graduation frequencies among students who fall into the …

Strategy, Politics And Latino Graduate Education: A Descriptive Policy Analysis Of The South Texas/Border Initiative, Emily Calderon Galdeano

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Prior to 1987, appropriations to universities along the Texas-Mexico border were much less than in other areas of the state. As a result the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) v. Richards lawsuit was filed, claiming inequities for higher education funding. Between 1989 and 1995, the Texas Legislature approved a group of bills known as the South Texas/Border Initiative (STBI). The goals of this initiative were to: 1) provide equitable funding to nine universities along the South Texas border; 2) merge these regional institutions with the larger university systems in the state; and 3) create additional graduate programs at …

Educational Investment Makes Financial Sense: A Longitudinal Study Investigating The Effect Of Fiscal Effort On Personal Income, Mark Loiterman

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

As the United States seeks to compete in the increasingly connected global economy, efforts have been made to improve both internal educational outcomes such as test scores and graduation rates, as well as relative educational outcomes such as the ranking of the United States' test scores on international assessments. Finding the correct strategies to improve education nationally is difficult, since education takes place in a very personal context that differs from state to state, district to district, school to school, classroom to classroom, and student to student. However, because of the importance of increasing educational outcomes, the nation has looked …

Profiles And Giving Patterns Of Donors To An Urban Southeastern Community College, John Allen Gyllin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on fundraising in higher education, and specifically community college fundraising. Having transitioned from a traditional four year university setting to a community college, the author found this research helpful, not only for this institution, but for knowledge of community college donors and why they give. By working with data from this institution over the last ten years, and the research on the topic of fundraising for community colleges, donor trends were developed and needed improvements identified to raise significantly more dollars for the college. It is the outcome of this research that will hopefully assist this institution …

A Case Study Using Principal-Agent Theory To Explore How A Public, Four Year University Interacts With A System Office, Annie Macias

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The focus of this research was to examine the funding relationship between a single public institution of higher education and its accompanying system office. Such a study is important in order to obtain insight into the relationship between a System Office and an institution, and thus how institutions carry out their fiscal responsibilities, not directly to the state but to the System Office they serve. The study provides insight into how the System Office communicates and transacts with an institution regarding financial allocations. Also important is whether that institution receives effective communication and whether the institution's perceived expectations are as …

The Impact Of The Recession On Education Funding In The U.S. And Mississippi, Will Jolly

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Linking Resource Allocation To Student Achievement: A Study Of Title 1 And Title 1 Stimulus Utilization, Kati Petersen Krumpe

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

With the emphasis on high standards and fiscal accountability, there is a heightened need to inform the research linking student achievement to the allocation of resources. This mixed methods inquiry sought to study how schools utilized Title 1 and Title 1 stimulus funding from 2009-2011 to determine if correlations existed between areas of resource utilization and student achievement by studying both the use of funding and the processes that fifteen elementary and middle Title 1 schools in southern California utilized. The focus was to document resource use of Title 1 and Title 1 stimulus allocations and determine if a correlation …

Superintendent's Perceptions Of Adequacy In Illinois School Finance, Mark Alan Cohen

Dissertations

This qualitative research study investigated superintendents' perceptions of school finance in the State of Illinois. An online survey instrument, distributed via email, was used to collect the results. Superintendents that chose to participate answered questions about themselves as well as the demographic variables of the district they represent. The participants then went on to answer the finance survey questions. Responses to the finance survey were triangulated with the particular demographic information, much of which was separated into quartiles. The study sought to determine the answers to the following questions: (1) Do public school K-12 superintendents believe that they have sufficient …

An Analysis Of Local Education Foundations As Alternative Revenue Streams For Public School Districts, Douglas M. Busch

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

As school district revenues are reduced by state allocating agencies, local school district administrators and school boards frequently evaluate alternative sources of possible revenue. One emerging source of revenue that many school districts explore is a local education foundation. Local education foundations are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that are affiliated with their local public school district. This study seeks to understand the problem that local school district leaders face when dealing with the complex issues that shape the success, impact, and viability of local education foundations. This mixed methods study used a cultural and symbolic framework to analyze local education foundations …

Revenue-Based Financial Modeling: A Sustainable Model For Medium-Size, Private, Mission-Based Schools Of Education, Joseph Harbouk

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the implementation and assessment of revenue-based budgeting at a medium-size, private, mission-based graduate school of education (SOE), under the pseudonym Peter Claver University (PCU). Additionally, two other similar schools were included in the study because they used revenue-based budgeting for a period of 10 years or longer and their missions were comparable to that of PCU’s SOE.

A survey and three interviews were conducted with the deans of the three schools and responses were subjected to content analysis and triangulation. Points of consensus between the deans were the following: a strong favor for the revenue-based budgeting model; …

Political Activity As Advocacy: Through The Eyes Of The Illinois Superintendent, Julie Fogarty

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to expand the research concerning Illinois School Superintendents' perceptions of the importance of understanding, responding to and influencing the political context of schools in Illinois. The overarching research question for this study asked: What are Illinois superintendents' perceptions of the effectiveness of political activity as they advocate for resources and services to improve opportunities for student learning? The findings for this study were gathered through interviews with eleven active Superintendents in Lake County, Illinois. Interview transcripts were compared to the literature review including the political and economic climate in Illinois, networking, lobbying and working …

An Analysis Of Knowledge Of The Bible, Private School Law, And Business And Finance Between Christian School Principals With And Without Graduate Degrees, Dennis E. Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed the performance of a sample of K-12 Assemblies of God Christian school principals on the Christian School Principal Preparation Assessment Questionnaire (CSPPAQ). The CSPPAQ, developed especially for this study, assesses knowledge in three areas: knowledge of the Bible, knowledge of private school law, and knowledge of business and finance. A sample size of 102 was determined using the sample size formula, based on a population of 611and a bound of 4 (+ 2). Numerous school closures over the course of this study caused the population size to drop to 490. This fact, coupled with a 45% survey …