My 2017 Higher Education Finance Reading List

For the most up-to-date reading list, please see this list from January 2020.

The middle of July marks the two-thirds point in my academic summer, so I’m spending time getting ready for the fall semester in addition to packing in as much research and fun into this wonderful time of year. I am teaching a higher education finance class at Seton Hall University for the fourth time this fall semester and just posted my syllabus for my students to look at before the semester begins.

Here is the reading list I am assigning my students for the course, which is my best effort to capture the current state of knowledge in higher education finance. I teach students who are primarily administrators and practitioners, so I especially value articles that are clearly-written and explain research methods in a concise manner. I link to the final versions of the articles whenever possible, but those without access to an academic library should note that earlier versions of many of these articles are available online via a quick Google search.

I hope you enjoy the list!

 

Introduction to higher education finance

Lumina Foundation video on how the federal government distributes financial aid to students: https://www.luminafoundation.org/looking-back-to-move-forward-4

Chetty, R., Friedman, J. N., Saez, E., Turner, N., & Yagan, D. (2017). Mobility report cards: The role of colleges in intergenerational mobility. Working paper. (Also, look at their website for data on how your favorite college fares: http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/college/.)

Ehrenberg, R. G. (2012). American higher education in transition. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(1), 193-216. (link)

Madzelan, D. (2013). The politics of student aid. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute. (link)

Schanzenbach, D. W., Bauer, L., & Breitwieser, A. (2017). Eight economic facts on higher education. Washington, DC: The Hamilton Project. (link)

National Center for Education Statistics (2015). IPEDS data center user manual. Washington, DC: Author. (skim as a reference) (link)

 

Institutional budgeting

Barr, M.J., & McClellan, G.S. (2010). Understanding budgets. In Budgets and financial management in higher education (pp. 55-85). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (link)

Varlotta, L.E. (2010). Becoming a leader in university budgeting. New Directions for Student Services, 129, 5-20. (link)

Seton Hall’s FY 2016 Forms 990 and 990-T to the Internal Revenue Service: https://www13.shu.edu/offices/finance/index.cfm

The College of New Jersey’s FY 2016 audited financial statements: https://treasurer.tcnj.edu/files/2016/02/FY2016-Audited-Financials-and-Schedules-of-Federal-State-Awards.pdf

Moody’s credit rating report for The College of New Jersey: https://treasurer.tcnj.edu/files/2016/09/Moodys-TCNJ-Final-Report-8.15.2016.pdf

Information on The College of New Jersey’s budgeting cycle: https://treasurer.tcnj.edu/files/2012/06/FY2018-TCNJ-Strategic-Budget-Planning-Cycle.pdf

 

Policy analysis and higher education finance

DesJardins, S.L. (2001). Understanding and using efficiency and equity criteria in the study of higher education policy. In J.C. Smart & W.G. Tierney (Eds.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, Vol. 17 (pp. 173-220). Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. (link)

Ness, E. C. (2010). The role of information in the policy process: Implications for the examination of research utilization in higher education policy. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, Vol. 25 (pp. 1-49). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. (link)

Weimer, D.L., & Vining, A.R. (1999). Thinking strategically about adoption and implementation. In Policy analysis: Concepts and practice (3rd Ed.) (pp. 382-416). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. (link)

Winston, G. C. (1999). Subsidies, hierarchy and peers: The awkward economics of higher education. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13(1), 13-36. (link)

 

Higher education expenditures

Altonji, J. G., & Zimmerman, S. D. (2017). The costs of and net returns to college major. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 23029. (link)

Archibald, R. B., & Feldman, D. H. (2008). Explaining increases in higher education costs. The Journal of Higher Education, 79(3), 268-295.

Cheslock, J. J., & Knight, D. B. (2015). Diverging revenues, cascading expenditures, and ensuing subsidies: The unbalanced and growing financial strain of intercollegiate athletics on universities and their students. The Journal of Higher Education, 86(3), 417-447. (link)

Hurlburt, S., & McGarrah, M. (2016). Cost savings or cost shifting? The relationship between part-time contingent faculty and institutional spending. New York, NY: TIAA Institute. (link)

Commonfund Institute (2015). 2015 higher education price index. Wilton, CT: Author. (skim) (link)

Desrochers, D. M., & Hurlburt, S. (2016). Trends in college spending: 2003-2013. Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research. (skim) (link)

 

Federal sources of revenue

Cellini, S. R. (2010). Financial aid and for-profit colleges: Does aid encourage entry? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 29(3), 526-552. (link)

Kirshstein, R. J., & Hurlburt, S. (2012). Revenues: Where does the money come from? Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research. (link)

Pew Charitable Trusts (2015). Federal and state funding of higher education. Washington, DC: Author. (link)

Pew Charitable Trusts (2017). How governments support higher education through the tax code. Washington, DC: Author. (link)

(Note: I will add a draft paper I’m working on looking at whether law, medical, and business schools responded to a 2006 increase in Grad PLUS loan limits by raising tuition later in the semester. I’ll have a public draft of the paper to share in early November, but I think it’s good that students see a really rough draft to see how the research process works.)

 

State sources of revenue

Chatterji, A. K., Kim, J., & McDevitt, R. C. (2016). School spirit: Legislator school ties and state funding for higher education. Working paper. (link)

Doyle, W., & Zumeta, W. (2014). State-level responses to the access and completion challenge in the new era of austerity. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 655, 79-98. (link)

Fitzpatrick, M. D., & Jones, D. (2016). Post-baccalaureate migration and merit-based scholarships. Economics of Education Review, 54, 155-172. (link)

Hillman, N. W. (2016). Why performance-based funding doesn’t work. New York, NY: The Century Foundation. (link)

State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (2017). State higher education finance: FY 2017. Boulder, CO: Author. (skim) (link)

 

College pricing, tuition revenue, and endowments

Goldrick-Rab, S., & Kendall, N. (2016). The real price of college. New York, NY: The Century Foundation. (link)

Jaquette, O., Curs, B. R., & Posselt, J. R. (2016). Tuition rich, mission poor: Nonresident enrollment growth and the socioeconomic and racial composition of public research universities. Journal of Higher Education, 87(5), 635-673. (link)

Kelchen, R. (2016). An analysis of student fees: The roles of states and institutions. The Review of Higher Education, 39(4), 597-619. (link)

Levin, T., Levitt, S. D., & List, J. A. (2016). A glimpse into the world of high capacity givers: Experimental evidence from a university capital campaign. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 22099. (link)

Yau, L., & Rosen, H. S. (2016). Are universities becoming more unequal? The Review of Higher Education, 39(4), 479-514. (link)

Ma, J., Baum, S., Pender, M., & Welch, M. (2016). Trends in college pricing 2016. Washington, DC: The College Board. (skim) (link)

National Association of College and University Budget Offices (2017). 2016 NACUBO-Commonfund study of endowment results. http://www.nacubo.org/Research/NACUBO-Commonfund_Study_of_Endowments/Public_NCSE_Tables.html (skim)

 

Student debt and financing college

Akers, B., & Chingos, M. M. (2016). Game of loans: The rhetoric and reality of student debt (p. 13-37). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (link)

Boatman, A., Evans, B. J., & Soliz, A. (2017). Understanding loan aversion in education: Evidence from high school seniors, community college students, and adults. AERA Open, 3(1), 1-16. (link)

Chakrabarti, R., Haughwout, A., Lee, D., Scally, J., & van der Klaauw, W. (2017). Press briefing on household debt, with focus on student debt. New York, NY: Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (link)

Houle, J. N., & Warner, C. (2017). Into the red and back to the nest? Student debt, college completion, and returning to the parental home among young adults. Sociology of Education, 90(1), 89-108. (link)

Kelchen, R., & Li. A. Y. (2017). Institutional accountability: A comparison of the predictors of student loan repayment and default rates. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 671, 202-223. (link)

 

Financial aid practices, policies, and impacts

Watch the Lumina Foundation’s video on the history of the Pell Grant: https://www.luminafoundation.org/looking-back-to-move-forward-3

Bird, K., & Castleman, B. L. (2016). Here today, gone tomorrow? Investigating rates and patterns of financial aid renewal among college freshmen. Research in Higher Education, 57(4), 395-422. (link)

Carruthers, C. K., & Ozek, U. (2016). Losing HOPE: Financial aid and the line between college and work. Economics of Education Review, 53, 1-15. (link)

Goldrick-Rab, S., Kelchen, R., Harris, D. N., & Benson, J. (2016). Reducing income inequality in educational attainment: Experimental evidence on the impact of financial aid on college completion. American Journal of Sociology, 121(6), 1762-1817. (link)

Schudde, L., & Scott-Clayton, J. (2016). Pell Grants as performance-based scholarships? An examination of satisfactory academic progress requirements in the nation’s largest need-based aid program. Research in Higher Education, 57(8), 943-967. (link)

Baum, S., Ma, J., Pender, M., & Welch, M. (2016). Trends in student aid 2016. Washington, DC: The College Board. (skim) (link)

 

Free college programs/proposals

Deming, D. J. (2017). Increasing college completion with a federal higher education matching grant. Washington, DC: The Hamilton Project. (link)

Goldrick-Rab, S., & Kelly, A. P. (2016). Should community college be free? Education Next, 16(1), 54-60. (link)

Harnisch, T. L., & Lebioda, K. (2016). The promises and pitfalls of state free community college plans. Washington, DC: American Association of State Colleges and Universities. (link)

Murphy, R., Scott-Clayton, J., & Wyness, G. (2017). Lessons from the end of free college in England. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution. (link)

Map of college promise/free college programs: https://ahead-penn.org/creating-knowledge/college-promise

 

Returns to education

Deterding, N. M., & Pedulla, D. S. (2016). Educational authority in the “open door” marketplace: Labor market consequences of for-profit, nonprofit, and fictional educational credentials. Sociology of Education, 89(3), 155-170. (link)

Doyle, W. R., & Skinner, B. T. (2017). Does postsecondary education result in civic benefits? The Journal of Higher Education. doi: 10.1080/00221546.2017.1291258. (link)

Giani, M. S. (2016). Are all colleges equally equalizing? How institutional selectivity impacts socioeconomic disparities in graduates’ labor outcomes. Research in Higher Education, 39(3), 431-461. (link)

Ma, J., Pender, M., & Welch, M. (2016). Education pays 2016: The benefits of higher education for individuals and society. Washington, DC: The College Board. (link)

Webber, D. A. (2016). Are college costs worth it? How ability, major, and debt affect the returns to schooling. Economics of Education Review, 53, 296-310. (link)