How state leadership determines effective higher education attainment.
Although the federal government invests substantial resources into student financial aid, states have the primary responsibility for policies that raise overall higher educational attainment and improve equity across groups. The importance of understanding how states may accomplish these goals has never been greater, as educational attainment is increasingly required for economic and social well-being of individuals and society.
Drawing on data collected from case studies of the relationship between public policy and higher education performance in five states―Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Texas, and Washington―The Attainment Agenda offers a framework for understanding how state public policy can effectively promote educational attainment.
Laura W. Perna and Joni E. Finney argue that there is no silver bullet to improve higher education attainment. Instead, achieving the required levels of attainment demands a comprehensive approach. State leaders must consider how performance in one area (such as degree completion) is connected to performance in other areas (such as preparation or affordability), how particular policies interact to produce expected and unexpected outcomes, and how policy approaches must be adapted to reflect their particular context. The authors call for greater attention to the state role in providing policy leadership to advance a cohesive public agenda for higher education and adopting public policies that not only increase the demand for and supply of higher education but also level the playing field for higher educational opportunity.
The insights offered in The Attainment Agenda have important implications for public policymakers, college and university leaders, and educational researchers interested in ensuring sustained higher education attainment.

The Attainment Agenda: State Policy Leadership in Higher Education

Education & Teaching

Finney, Joni E.

Perna, Laura W.

Higher & Continuing Education

Johns Hopkins University Press

The authors explain how various state governance structures influence the way priorities for higher education are established. Based on a study conducted by the California Higher Education Policy Center, now The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, this study examines whether existing state higher education structures are adequate given the economic, social, and technological challenges of the 1990s and the first decades of the 21st century. The study also explored whether these structures are prepared to handle the changing student population as well as what appears to be an unprecedented period of increased demand for higher education in some states. The book contains comparative case studies of higher education systems in seven large and diverse states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Texas.

Designing State Higher Education Systems For A New Century: (American Council on Education Oryx Press Series on Higher Education)

Callan, Patrick M.

Bracco, Kathy Reeves

Richardson, Richard C., Jr.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Public And Private Financing Of Higher Education: Shaping Public Policy For The Future (American Council on Education Oryx Press Series on Higher Education)

This timely volume identifies major trends in financing higher education during the first half of the 1990s. The editors have collected a series of articles contributed by such prominent individuals in this field as Brian Roherty, David Breneman, Joni Finney, and Robert Zemsky who share their insights and expertise. Part I covers trends in public spending and the implications for change of the transfer of responsibilities from the federal government to the states, examines changes in revenue sources for higher education and the policy implications for such change, and concludes with a perspective on privatization. Part II offers individual case studies about how higher education is financed in five states: California, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, and New York.

Public and Private Financing of Higher Education: Shaping Public Policy for the Future (American Council on Education Oryx Press Series on Higher Education)

Doyle, William R.

Callahan, Patrick M.

This ambitious book grows out of the realization that a convergence of economic, demographic, and political forces in the early twenty-first century requires a fundamental reexamination of the financing of American higher education. The authors identify and address basic issues and trends that cut across the sectors of higher education, focusing on such questions as how much higher education the country needs for individual opportunity and for economic viability in the future; how responsibility for paying for it is currently allocated; and how financing higher education should be addressed in the future.

Financing American Higher Education in the Era of Globalization

Zumeta, William

Breneman, David W.

Harvard Education Press

This ambitious book grows out of the realization that a convergence of economic, demographic, and political forces in the early twenty-first century requires a fundamental reexamination of the financing of American higher education. The authors identify and address basic issues and trends that cut across the sectors of higher education, focusing on such questions as how much higher education the country needs for individual opportunity and for economic viability in the future; how responsibility for paying for it is currently allocated; and how financing higher education should be addressed in the future.

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