In partnership with the National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges and the American Association of Community Colleges, The National Access and Finance Surveys were initiated by EPC Director Katsinas while at the University of North Texas in 2003 and transferred to UA’s Education Policy Center in 2005. Nationally recognized higher education experts review each year’s survey instrument. This dynamic partnership has resulted in at least 49 of 51 possible state-level responses each year over the past decade.
EPC research has documented that the long-term decline in state funding for public higher education began two decades before the 1998 academic year, the first to be documented by the Delta Cost Project (2010). In FY1980-81, 16 states provided 60% or more of total revenues for their community colleges; by 2000-2001, none did. In FY1980-81, 55% of U.S. community college students attended in one of the 22 states where the state invested 50% or more of the total revenues for their community colleges; by FY2000-01, it was just 8% in 7 states. Our annual National Access and Finance Surveys continue to document this decline: in 2003, 34 of 46 states reported mid-year cuts in state appropriations; in 2010, 34 of 48 did so.
The National Access and Finance Surveys are not strictly about community colleges. Rather, they are an annual national assessment of access and funding issues for all public higher education sectors — flagship universities, regional universities, and community colleges. Our surveys provide a 35,000-foot view of access and finance in the fifty states. Variations in appropriations by higher education sector were larger before the Great Recession than today. Our surveys emphatically show the “high tuition/high aid” model doesn’t work, because states do not match tuition increases with increased state student aid in bad economic times. That states increasingly treat all three public higher sectors the same in both bad times and good, speaks to the need for public higher education to speak with one voice across all three sectors. Public higher education must be involved in helping state leaders with solutions to the significant public policy issues that drive state finances.
The years prior to 2008 saw steady increases in operating budgets. But following the Great Recession, finances have worsened. Our 2013 report, Halfway Out of Recession, But a Long Way to Go, found 14 states failed to appropriate operating budget funds at or above the predicted inflation rate, while 2014’s Recovery Continues, But Competition is Fierce found that 31 states failed to do so. Special sections center on key issues facing higher education leaders including facilities, workforce training in the Great Recession, Pell Grants, and college completion. Our February 2015 report was one of the first nationally to document a decline in the nation’s community college completion rates. That so few states have long-term plans for the operating and capital budgets needed to expand college degree completion speaks to the perilous conditions facing American public higher education. The chart below shows that just two states raised operating budgets each year since the Great Recession at or above the inflation rate – five failed to do so a single time. Cuts in state funding means boards of trustees must either raise tuition, cut programs, or both.
Winter 2023
Emerging from COVID-19: The 2022 Report of Finance and Access Issues
Nathaniel J. Bray, Garrett A. Till, Mark M. D’Amico, Stephen G. Katsinas
This survey contacts 50 National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges (NCSDCC) members, as well as countless other staff across the nation, because of their broad knowledge of access and finance issues across education sectors and state government as well, to try and answer two main research questions: first, what are current budget drivers, and how does that fit with what we have seen in the past, and second, based on past and current responses, what are expected trends for the future?
October 2020
COVID-19, CARES, and Public Higher Education in 2020-2021 and Beyond: A View from 38 States
Stephen G. Katsinas, Emily M. Jacobs, Nathaniel J. Bray
This report is based on 38 responses from the ABAB National Survey of Access
and Finance Issues conducted by the Education Policy Center (EPC) at the University of Alabama. This year’s survey was conducted between July and October, and includes a bank of questions related to how COVID-19 and CARES funding impacted the fiscal year just concluded (2019-20) as well as predictions for 2020-21.
November 2016
The 2016 Proposals for Higher Education: A View from the States
Stephen G. Katsinas, J. Lucas Adair, Fei Qiao
This report examines federal issues in higher education, including specific
issues in the battleground states of the 2016 election (the 14 states defined
by Real Clear Politics). This analysis contains 8 of the 14 battleground states.
January 2016
Stephen G. Katsinas, Mark M. D’Amico, Janice N. Friedel, J. Lucas Adair, Jake L. Warner, Michael S. Malley
This report draws upon National Surveys of Access and Finance Issues for the five years following the end of federal stimulus funding during the Great Recession.
February 2015
A New Way Forward Is Needed to Jump-Start Degree Completion
Stephen G. Katsinas, Louis E. Shedd, Jonathan P. Koh, Michael S. Malley, J. Lucas Adair, Mark M. D’Amico, Janice N. Friedel
In this report we present results of our latest survey of National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges, with 50 of 51 possible responses. Can American higher education possibly accomplish the “moon shot” needed to restore America to #1 in the world without substantial, sustained federal and state funding?
November 2014
Recovery Continues but Competition is Fierce
Stephen G. Katsinas, Louis E. Shedd, J. Lucas Adair, Michael S. Malley, Jonathan P.
Koh, Vincent A. Lacey, Mark M. D’Amico, Janice N. Friedel,
This report begins with an examination of access issues in the fiscal year just concluded (FY2013-14), and the budget drivers in the recently-concluded legislative session across the fifty states, followed by predicted changes in state tax appropriations and tuition for all three sectors of public higher education—community colleges, regional universities, and flagship universities—as well as for state-funded student financial aid. We specifically examine if policy alignment exists across state tax appropriations, tuition, and state student aid policies—the necessary precondition for the high tuition/high aid model of student financial assistance to work. Finally, we look at access threats and capacity issues faced by all three sectors, including enrollment caps at regional and flagship universities, and if state community and technical systems believe they have sufficient capacity to serve both newly graduated high school students and the population of older returning adults.
November 2013
Halfway out of Recession, But a Long Way to Go
Stephen G. Katsinas, Vincent A. Lacey, J. Lucas Adair, Jonathan P. Koh, Mark M. D’Amico, Janice N. Friedel
This report covers the 2013 National Survey of Access and Finance Issues, a survey of the members of the National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges (NCSDCC) and includes special sections on workforce training, Pell
Grants and federal access programs, and rural community colleges; these will
be subjects of future EPC reports, along with a special report on funding that
examines key differences between the 25 states with and 25 without significant
local funding.
December 2011
Challenging Success: Can College Degree Completion Be Increased as States Cut Budgets?
Stephen G. Katsinas, Mark M. D’Amico, Janice N. Friedel
This report assesses college degree completion issues from the unique perspective of state community college directors responsible for coordination, supervision, and management of community colleges.
September 2011
Access and Funding in Higher Education -the 2011 National Survey
Stephen G. Katsinas, Mark M. D’Amico, Janice N. Friedel
This report presents the 2011 survey of NCSDCC members conducted from July 5 to August 24, 2011. We begin with a look back at the year just concluded. This is followed by predictions for next year across all access sectors—community colleges, regional universities, and flagship universities; capacity challenges, threats to access in large states. The report concludes with a special section on community colleges and re-tooling unemployed workers.
2010
Uncertain Recovery: Access and Funding Issues in Public Higher Education
Stephen G. Katsinas, Janice N. Friedel
This report provides insights about how states are delivering on the promise of access at a time when many states are seeing substantial growth in their high school graduation class sizes. The issues are important and many. This year’s special section focuses on three important issues: 1)serving workers impacted by the recession, 2) the impact of the new year-round Pell Grant, and 3) issues related to proprietary colleges. We believe that by comparing similarities and differences across our diverse states, insights can be gleaned, and issues and concerns can be highlighted and analyzed.
2009
Funding and Access Issues in Public Higher Education: A Community College Perspective
Stephen G. Katsinas, Terrence A. Tollefson
This National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges (NCSDCC) 2009 report surveys its members on issues of access and funding in their own sectors, other sectors of education, and in the state government. This annual report collects perceptions from the field regarding some of the most important issues facing higher education in our country today.
April 2008
Stephen G. Katsinas, Terrence A. Tollefson
This National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges (NCSDCC) 2008 report surveys its members on issues of access and funding in their own sectors, other sectors of education, and in the state government. This year’s survey includes two new sections: one on facilities and another on hot topics. By comparing similarities and differences across our diverse states, insights can be gleaned, and issues and concerns can be highlighted and
analyzed.
2007
Stephen G. Katsinas, Terrence A. Tollefson, Becky A. Reamey
This National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges (NCSDCC) 2007 report surveys its members on issues of access and funding in their own sectors, other sectors of education, and in the state government. Also included are two new sections: one on facilities and another on hot topics. By comparing similarities and differences across our diverse states, insights can be gleaned, and issues and concerns can be highlighted and analyzed.