Located in Washington, D.C.

Position Description:

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) seeks a talented professional to support our efforts to develop state data and information resources and to provide technical assistance and professional development to SHEEO agency researchers and policy analysts. The ideal candidate for this position will be enthusiastic about working with higher education data, understand how data can inform policy and practice, and use this enthusiasm and knowledge to inform our members and the community about current practices and future trends in public higher education.

SHEEO serves the chief executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit www.sheeo.org.

Key Responsibilities Include:

SHEEO is seeking diverse applicants who are qualified to undertake the following responsibilities:

• Assisting in the development, administration, and analysis of SHEEO’s “Strong Foundations” survey of state postsecondary systems.
• Developing technical assistance and professional development materials for state-level data practitioners.
• Contributing to agenda development for SHEEO’s national convenings of data practitioners, researchers, and policy analysts.  
• Creating resources to communicate data and research results to multiple audiences.
• Developing and maintaining knowledge regarding current activities and future trends in public higher education.
• Contributing to reports, white papers, and policy briefs.
• Responding to information requests and providing other member services.
• May represent SHEEO at state, regional, and national meetings and conferences.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Experience and Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field plus at least two years of experience in a role that requires similar skills. A master’s degree may serve as a substitute for one year of experience. 
• Experience with or knowledge of state postsecondary data systems.

• Knowledge of external data resources such as IPEDS, NPSAS, or U.S. Census Bureau.
• Successful completion of coursework or demonstrated experience in statistics.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel.
• Knowledge of Qualtrics or other survey platform.
• Ability to establish priorities and coordinate work on multiple projects.
• Strong written and verbal communications skills.
• Ability to creatively analyze and visualize data and present it to non-technical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge of state higher education policy and issues.
• Experience developing or providing professional development or technical assistance resources.
• Experience conducting education, social science, public policy, or other research.
• Knowledge of Tableau or other data visualization programs.

Salary:

Salary will be commensurate with successful candidate’s level of education and experience. SHEEO provides excellent staff benefits, including educational assistance. 

Term:

This is a two-year contract position. Contract may be renewed or extended at the end of the two-year term.

Application Process:

Please apply by email to sheeo@sheeo.org and include the following:

1. Letter describing how you meet the requirements of the position, addressed to Dr. Christina Whitfield, SHEEO, 1233 20^th Street NW, Suite 360, Washington, DC 20036.
2. Resume or curriculum vitae.
3. Names and contact information of three professional references. (References will not be contacted until you have given permission for us to do so.)

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, but full consideration will be given to those received by September 17, 2021. This position is based in Washington, D.C. SHEEO is committed to providing equal employment opportunities and believes that recruiting and developing a diverse and inclusive staff is vital to the success of the organization.   

SHEEO members are invited to co-sign a declaration of shared commitment to higher education’s essential role in equitably providing civic learning and democracy engagement for all postsecondary students in public and private U.S. community colleges, colleges, and universities. The formal invitation can be found here. The signed statement will be made public this September. To co-sign the statement, please contact Rebecca Knobel at College Promise at rebecca@collegepromise.org. Please direct all questions to Carol Geary Schneider, president emerita of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, at cgs@aacu.org. 

SHEEO’s Annual Meeting is an important event for our membership and our organization. As much as we were looking forward to convening and bringing together our membership, in consultation with our Executive Committee, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our in-person meeting. This is not a decision SHEEO made lightly, but one that we felt was necessary given the growing concerns around COVID-19 and the current public health climate. SHEEO had built out a robust Annual Meeting program and are determining options for delivering some of the program virtually. We will provide additional information about these sessions as it becomes available.

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) seeks candidates for a paid internship for the fall of 2021. This internship is appropriate for students pursuing graduate study in communications, marketing, higher education, public policy, public administration, and related fields. The ideal candidates will be motivated, detail-oriented, active learners interested in communications and/or higher education policy with a desire and motivation to learn.

The focus of the internship will be providing support for SHEEO’s communications and public relations efforts. SHEEO’s fall 2021 communications intern will work directly with SHEEO’s strategic communications director and play a role in a variety of projects depending on the intern’s skills and interests and SHEEO’s needs. Projects may include assisting with social media efforts, copy editing, developing collateral, updating web properties, and designing professional development opportunities for SHEEO internal and/or agency staff. The communications intern will also have the opportunity to attend the SHEEO Higher Education Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., which we plan to hold in person from November 9 through 12, 2021.

The internship will last approximately twelve weeks, beginning in October. The communications intern will have the option of working remotely or from our Boulder, Colorado, or Washington, D.C., office (depending on intern’s geographic location). The intern position will pay $20 per hour. Interns will work at least 15 but not more than 37.5 hours per week, with hours set by mutual arrangement. This is a temporary position that is not eligible for benefits. Successful past interns have been offered an extended contract to continue working past their allotted time frame.

SHEEO is seeking diverse applicants with the following qualifications:

• Current graduate student with completed graduate coursework in communications, marketing, higher education, public policy, public administration, or a related field
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite
• Experience with Adobe Creative Suite with an interest/talent in graphic design
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to independently produce high-quality written communication content on behalf of SHEEO
• Enthusiasm and curiosity for communications, marketing, and/or public relations
• Interest in higher education policy
• Self-starter who is eager to learn

Goals of the SHEEO Communications Internship Program:

• Increasing the communications expertise and skills of the selected intern
• Advancing communications efforts of SHEEO
• Increasing the knowledge of communications in the higher education policy field

Application Process:

Please apply by email to sheeo@sheeo.org and include the following:

1. Letter describing your interest in and qualifications for the position, and contact information for two references (references will not be contacted until applicant has been informed), addressed to:

Annahita Jimmerson

Strategic Communications Director

State Higher Education Executive Officers Association

3035 Center Green Drive, Suite 100

Boulder, CO 80301

• Résumé or curriculum vitae

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, but full consideration will be given to those received by August 20, 2021.

About SHEEO

SHEEO serves its members as an advocate for state policy leadership, as a liaison between states and the federal government, as a vehicle for learning from and collaborating with peers, and as a source of information and analysis on educational and public policy issues. SHEEO seeks to advance public policies and educational practices to achieve more widespread access and successful participation in higher education, more new discoveries through research, and more applications of knowledge that improve the quality of human lives.

SHEEO is committed to providing equal employment opportunities and believes that recruiting and developing a diverse and inclusive staff is vital to the organization’s success. Read more about SHEEO on our website: www.sheeo.org.

State postsecondary data systems contain a wealth of information—including detailed records about individuals—that allow states to analyze and improve their postsecondary education systems. The entities that maintain these systems operate in a context of concern about the privacy and security of educational records. They have both an interest in making valuable information available to researchers and policy analysts and a duty to protect sensitive data.

Washington, D.C. – The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) has released the first in a series of papers based on results of the 2020 administration of SHEEO’s Strong Foundations survey. This first paper outlines the use of benchmark privacy and security processes, standards, and practices in state postsecondary data systems.

Respondents’ answers to the Strong Foundations 2020 survey reflect a desire to stay ahead of the curve regarding privacy and security. Survey responses indicate more state agencies are incorporating more external guidelines, more personnel, and stricter protocols for handling data into their data governance strategies. Three overarching themes stood out in the responses to questions about privacy and security in state postsecondary data systems: States rely on controlling who has access to the data, use legally binding agreements for data sharing, and employ robust cybersecurity infrastructures to ensure their data is private and secure.

Based on the responses to this survey and on evolving standards and legislation, we recommend that state higher education agencies employ the following practices to advance a robust state postsecondary data system – create dynamic and inclusive data governance, establish or update agency data security and privacy policies and practices, and require data security and privacy training.

State postsecondary data systems are vital information resources for policymakers and researchers and contain large amounts of potentially sensitive information about students, faculty, and staff. The agencies that operate these systems take privacy and security considerations seriously, and our research indicates that the prevalence of benchmark privacy and security practices is increasing. By continuing to adapt to emerging privacy and security standards, states can use state postsecondary data systems to develop policy solutions and promote student success, while protecting personal information housed within them.

Learn more and explore the report at https://bit.ly/3xxTo0p.

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About the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO)

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association serves the chief executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership.

Located in Boulder, Colorado.

Position Description:

SHEEO is seeking a policy analyst to support the State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) project. This position will assist with the collection of higher education finance data, provide quality controls and quantitative analysis, contribute to writing the SHEF report and related issue briefs, and support efforts to improve and expand the report in new directions. The ideal candidate for this position will be enthusiastic about state higher education policy and interested in using state funding data to inform policy decisions that improve equity and outcomes for all students.

SHEEO serves the chief executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit www.sheeo.org.

Key Responsibilities:

SHEEO is seeking diverse applicants who can fulfill the following key responsibilities:

• Communicate clearly and provide support to employees of state higher education offices regarding higher education finance data collections and other issues.
• Use large datasets to create actionable, policy-relevant insights for state systems of higher education.
• Leverage statistical software packages to create reproducible analyses and accompanying data visualizations, descriptive tables, and trend comparisons.
• Communicate empirical findings to non-technical audiences through presentations, reports, white papers, and policy briefs.
• Develop and maintain knowledge regarding current activities and future trends in public higher education finance.
• Identify and promote best policies and practices related to closing equity gaps in higher education.
• Represent SHEEO at state, regional, and national meetings and conferences.
• Respond to information requests and provide other member services.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Experience and Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, or equivalent experience.
• Two years of work experience in a role with similar skills or a master’s degree in a relevant field (higher education, public policy, etc.).
• Experience in data analysis or research.
• Enthusiasm and curiosity for higher education finance policy and the data used to inform policy-related conversations.
• Sophisticated skills in Microsoft Excel, including setting up, managing, using, and manipulating large quantitative datasets, the use of pivot tables and formulas, and creating data visualizations.
• Strong written, verbal, and customer service communication skills.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Creative with an eye for design and new ways of presenting data.
• An identifiable commitment to advancing equity and student success in higher education.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge of the SHEF report and interactive report website.
• Experience working with data from a variety of higher education and related sources (e.g., ACS, BLS, IPEDS, NASSGAP, NPSAS, etc.).
• Proficient in advanced statistical software packages (Stata or R).
• Familiarity with relational database systems (particularly SQL Server).
• Familiarity working with WordPress sites.
• Experience conducting higher education policy data analysis or research.

Salary and Term:

Salary will be commensurate with the successful candidate’s education, experience, and demonstrated skill level. The starting salary for this position is $55,000. SHEEO provides excellent staff benefits, including generous paid sick and vacation leave, retirement contributions, education and professional development benefits, and a hybrid working environment.

This is a two-year contract position. Contract may be renewed or extended at the end of the two-year term.

Application Process:

Please apply by email to sheeo@sheeo.org and include the following:

1. A letter describing how you meet the position’s requirements, addressed to Sophia Laderman, SHEEO, 3035 Center Green Drive, #100, Boulder, CO 80301.
2. Résumé or curriculum vitae.
3. Names and contact information of three professional references. (References will not be contacted until you have given permission for us to do so.)

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, but full consideration will be given to those received by August 6, 2021. This position is based in Boulder, Colorado. SHEEO is committed to providing equal employment opportunities and believes that recruiting and developing a diverse and inclusive staff is vital to the organization’s success.

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) welcomes John Lane, DMA, as vice president for academic affairs and equity initiatives.

Dr. Lane will be located at SHEEO’s Washington, D.C., office, where he will lead policy and project development in educational equity, academic programs, and student success. Dr. Lane will also facilitate the work of SHEEO’s Equity Advisory Committee and collaborate with other SHEEO staff to explore and develop the equity implications of academic affairs, data, research, and finance projects.

Before joining SHEEO, Dr. Lane served in a variety of roles, most recently as the director of academic affairs for the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. Dr. Lane also served as the chair of the music theory department at Wheaton College and associate vice president for academic affairs at Allen University. Dr. Lane holds a doctorate in musical arts in composition from the University of South Carolina, a master of divinity in scripture and interpretation from Harvard University, and a bachelor of music in music education from the University of South Carolina.

ABOUT THE STATE HIGHER EDUCATION EXECUTIVE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the chief executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit https://sheeo.org.

Most states have not recovered from prior recessionary cuts in state funding and now face declines in their other revenue sources. Public institutions may be in a more precarious financial situation than at any other time in recent history. Amid this uncertainty, the SHEF report offers a comprehensive look at where states stood as they weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession.

BOULDER, Colorado —

In fiscal year 2020, a 2.9% increase in per-student education appropriations marked the likely end of an eight-year recovery in higher education funding. The State Higher Education Executive Officer Association’s (SHEEO) early estimates show that in 2021, inflation-adjusted state appropriations for higher education declined in most states. If past recessions are any indication, higher education likely faces several years of increasingly steep cuts to state funding. This means that public systems of higher education would enter a period of cuts from an already historically low base when compared to previous pre-recession figures.

In addition, institutions face unique financial pressures moving forward. With declining revenue from both states and students and after a year of increased costs due to the pandemic and the switch to online learning, state support for higher education is crucial for the continued success of our public institutions. The 2020 SHEF report provides a clear baseline for understanding state and local funding for public institutions prior to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent 2020 economic recession.

We find that states varied widely in their recovery from the last two recessions. Nationally, education appropriations remained 6.0% and 14.6% below 2008 and 2001 levels, respectively. Appropriations have fully recovered to at least 2008 levels in 18 states, a large improvement from the previous year. Still, funding has not recovered from the last recession in almost two-thirds of the states, and 12 states were at least 20% below 2008 levels.

For the first time, the 2020 SHEF report includes detailed information on state appropriations to institutions, student financial aid, tuition revenue, and student enrollment at two-year and four-year public colleges. These new data bring to light clear disparities in funding and total revenues across sectors. 

Key findings from the 2020 SHEF report include:

• Enrollment declined for the ninth straight year. Following a 0.6% decline over 2019, there were 10.9 million full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolled students in 2020. The enrollment decline was concentrated at two-year public institutions, which reported a 1.9% decline, while four-year public institutions reported a 0.2% increase.
• Two-year public institutions received less funding from state governments. Two-year colleges received $4,969 per FTE in state general operating appropriations, compared to $7,352 at four-year institutions. Local appropriations largely made up for this gap, and total education appropriations at two- and four-year institutions were $8,214 and $8,389, respectively.
• Financial aid continued to rise at a faster rate than institutional funding. Financial aid has increased steadily despite economic recessions that negatively impacted the rest of education appropriations. State public financial aid per FTE increased 7.0% in 2020 and reached an all-time high of $830 per FTE. These funds made up 9.6% of all education appropriations, the largest proportion ever.
• Net tuition revenue decreased for the second straight year. Public institutions averaged $6,726 in net tuition revenue from in-state and out-of-state students in 2020, down 1.0% from the previous year. The decline in net tuition revenue was partly due to increases in state financial aid, but even when including aid, tuition revenue per FTE did not keep up with inflation in either of the last two years. 
• Total revenue continued to rise, but not for all states and institutions. Total education revenue increased 1.2% in 2020, reaching an all-time high of $15,276 per FTE. However, total revenue was not at a record high in more than half of the states, and varied substantially by institution type. Many institutions have not been able to increase tuition revenue to offset declines in state funding, and four-year institutions had 1.64 times the total revenue of two-year institutions.
• Students financed the majority of public institution revenues at four-year institutions. There has been a substantial shift of responsibility for financing public higher education toward net tuition revenue, particularly in the four-year sector. At two-year institutions, the average student share in 2020 was less than a quarter (24.2%). At four-year institutions, the average student
  share was over half (53.2%).

Taken together, these findings paint a concerning picture for higher education finance as the impacts of the 2020 recession continue to affect higher education. While recent state investments in higher education are to be celebrated, per-student funding has never been so low at the start of an economic recession, which typically impacts higher education budgets for years. 

SHEEO President Robert E. Anderson drafted an editorial statement with additional comments regarding the future of state funding for higher education and shared, “Public systems of higher education face unprecedented revenue challenges given the decline in student enrollment. In the past, enrollments in higher education have been countercyclical, rising during economic downturns. The COVID-19 recession proved to be an exception to that rule. This will lead to strain in institutional budgets, particularly at public two-year institutions and at institutions most reliant on tuition revenue. Continued state investment and federal assistance is key to ensuring that institutions are able to serve our students.”

“As the country emerges from a volatile time and states reassess their budgets and priorities,
SHEF provides an important measure of progress made and critical work to be accomplished. SHEF and its new sector-level data give higher education leaders additional tools to fully analyze trends and better advocate for investment in talent development for our students,” said SHEEO Executive Committee Chair Kim Hunter Reed. “Education is an investment that pays. It transforms lives, strengthens communities and drives economic recovery.” 

While these findings are crucial to understanding the broad strokes of national finance trends in higher education, it’s important to note that national trends mask considerable variation across the states. “States vary widely in their contributions to public higher education, and we want to acknowledge the progress made in many states to restore prior funding cuts. Eighteen states have restored funding to at least 2008 levels. This is twice the number of states that were able to do so last year. At the same time, many other states have had no recovery in state funding for higher education whatsoever, and the national narrative of continued increases does not represent their reality,” said Sophia Laderman, senior policy analyst at SHEEO and primary author of the report. “Even more, there are inequalities in funding across institution types. Our new sector-level data bring some of these to light, but even within a sector, it’s important to focus on the disparate impact of state funding cuts to institutions that are heavily reliant on state funding.”

The full SHEF report paints a more complete picture of differences in public higher education finance across states. 

Explore the SHEF website to read the full report and customize the interactive data visualizations. The SHEF website also includes individual state profiles, additional reports on state effort and capacity to fund higher education and early estimates of 2021 state support, and issue briefs that focus on the use of federal stimulus funding for higher education and changes in state funding for private institutions over time. 

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About the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO)

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the chief executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership.

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) welcomes Kelsey Kunkle and Mónica Maldonado as state policy interns.

At SHEEO, Kelsey will be focused on the state higher education finance (SHEF) project and will contribute to the development of issue briefs related to public higher education finance. Prior to joining SHEEO, Kelsey served in multiple student and academic affairs roles at the University of North Texas. In these positions, she primarily supported the academic transitions of community college transfer and returning adult students. Kelsey holds a B.A. in communication from the University of Maryland and an M.Ed. in college student personnel from Western Carolina University. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in higher education at the University of North Texas, where she also serves as a graduate research assistant.

At SHEEO, Mónica will primarily assist the work of the college closures project, an initiative in partnership with the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center to study postsecondary outcomes of students who directly experience closure. Additionally, she supports a number of policy and research pursuits, all focused on the use of data to inform decision-making. Before joining the team at SHEEO, Mónica served as a graduate intern with the Education Strategy Group, Institute for Higher Education Policy, and the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Mónica also served as a graduate coordinator at the University of Maryland’s leadership and service-learning office. Prior to this, Mónica worked in recruitment for a D.C. public charter school open to 16-24-year-olds, offering free GED preparation and postsecondary credentials in high-demand fields. In addition, she worked as a trainer with the Posse Foundation. Mónica earned her B.S. in psychology from Berry College and M.A. in higher education from the University of Maryland, College Park. Currently, Mónica is working on her doctoral degree in higher education at the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia, where she also serves as a graduate research assistant.

ABOUT THE STATE HIGHER EDUCATION EXECUTIVE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the chief executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit https://sheeo.org.

Over time, states have both decreased overall support for higher education and shifted their funding from institutional operating support to student financial aid. A review of over 100 research studies shows that these trends have important implications for student enrollment, retention, graduation, and post-college outcomes. By not adequately funding public institutions, states sacrifice their attainment agendas and disproportionately harm underrepresented students.

BOULDER, Colorado —

In 2020, states invested almost $100 billion in higher education institutions and student financial aid. These investments are intended to ensure equal and affordable access to quality higher education, meet state attainment goals, promote the state’s economy, and provide residents with a better life. However, until a recent increase in the quality and production of research on the topic, it was not clear how state dollars contributed to outcomes in higher education. For instance, what happens to student outcomes if a state increases (or decreases) funding for public higher education? In an attempt to answer this question, and with generous support from the Joyce Foundation, the research team at the State Higher Education Executive Officer Association (SHEEO) recently completed a systematic review of more than 100 empirical research studies that rigorously measured the impacts of state appropriations to institutions and student financial aid programs on institutional and student outcomes.

The findings from SHEEO’s comprehensive new paper, “Investigating the Impacts of State Higher Education Appropriations and Financial Aid,” are clear: State funding to both institutions and student financial aid has clear and direct impacts on student enrollment patterns, retention and completion rates, and post-college success.

Key findings on the impact of state appropriations to institutions include:

• State appropriations directly impact the total revenue available for education at public institutions. In response to state funding cuts, doctoral institutions raise alternative revenue sources like tuition, while other four-year and two-year institutions are more likely to respond by cutting expenditures on instruction, academic support, and student services.
• Student enrollment is negatively impacted by cuts in state appropriations, as in-state undergraduate enrollment declines and students move from the public to the for-profit sector.
• A decrease in state funding leads to declining graduation rates at four-year colleges. Fewer degrees and certificates are awarded at all undergraduate levels due to declining enrollment and graduation rates. Consequently, there are measurable decreases in statewide bachelor’s degree attainment.

The measurable benefits of financial aid include:

• Student enrollment patterns shift as low-income students become increasingly able to afford more expensive institutions. Students also become less likely to leave the state for college.
• Students receiving aid are more likely to persist and graduate from their institutions and are more likely to graduate on time. These effects are particularly impactful for low-income students.
• Well-marketed financial aid programs with built-in student support services have the biggest positive impact.

David Tandberg, SHEEO senior vice president and a coauthor of the report, shared, “For the first time in one place, we present concrete evidence that state funding for institutions is a crucial investment that is absolutely necessary for improving student outcomes. If states continue deprioritizing institutional funding, we will see measurable negative impacts on student enrollment, student completions, and graduation rates. At the same time, we present continued evidence that student financial aid can influence where students enroll and help them graduate on time. Overall, we found that public investment matters for students.”

These findings have important implications for state attainment rates. “Many states have set ambitious attainment goals, and meeting these goals is necessary for ensuring that states have an educated workforce. Ultimately, states won’t be able to meet their attainment goals and workforce needs without additional investment in public higher education institutions,” said SHEEO President Robert E. Anderson. “Money matters, regardless of the appropriation mechanism, but we can’t sacrifice one area of funding for another.” 

The publication of this research represents a new direction for SHEEO. The organization has recently been expanding its role in empirical research with the aim of connecting research findings to its members and the broader field of higher education policy to drive evidence-based decision-making.

Carlos E. Santiago, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and a reviewer of the report, shared, “This report is timely, comprehensive, and provides an essential playbook for state higher education policymakers. The questions that are raised in this report are fundamental to the work we do on a daily basis. The answers that are provided reflect an important consensus among policy researchers, while providing the important caveat that these answers may vary as the subjects of our focus, timeline of action, and intensity of effort change.”

Nicholas Hillman, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a reviewer of the report, said, “Money matters in higher education and this report summarizes the data behind that fact. It draws on the best research evidence and makes a compelling case that equity and fairness must be front and center in state higher education funding conversations. The report offers important background context and practical recommendations to help SHEEO agencies advocate for much-needed change.”

Based on the findings of the analysis and an understanding of state higher education systems, the authors provide key recommendations for policymakers, including:

• Increase funding to higher education whenever possible. Higher education funding is disproportionately cut during economic recessions, making increases crucially important for maintaining a base level of funding. Additional investments are a primary way states can see significant gains in their postsecondary attainment rates.
• Adjust funding allocation strategies to promote equity and completion. Consider a state funding equity audit to understand gaps in funding across institution types, and examine how these funding patterns intersect with underrepresented student enrollment.
• Examine the alternative revenues available to public institutions, and consider those revenues when allocating funding for higher education. Institutions with an access mission are unlikely to raise tuition rates and increase out-of-state enrollment in response to revenue pressures.
• Ensure that student aid programs are effective by increasing messaging for programs and investing in student support services to complement dollars awarded to students.

Additional recommendations for policymakers are included in the full report. The complete report, along with a webinar presentation of the study, and databases of summarized research on state appropriations and financial aid can be found on the SHEEO website. This work would not have been possible without the fantastic and rigorous research produced by the many higher education finance and financial aid researchers.

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About the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO)

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association serves the chief executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership.