This multiple-site case study of 24 intermediary organizations (IOs) engaged in postsecondary public policy examined how they identify policy issues and move issues, problems, and solutions onto the higher education policy agenda. Specifically, this study used agenda-setting theory to examine how IOs construct higher education policy issues,…

This article proposes a new paradigm to understand recent government policies that pose new barriers to student participation and divert students out of public higher education. We explain how the classic diversion paradigm, exemplified by Clark (1960) and Brint and Karabel (1989), is unable to account for this new form of student diversion. We…

In recent years, growing numbers of four-year institutions have implemented a new type of need-based financial aid policy directed toward low- and middle-income students. These initiatives--referred to here as Loan Replacement Grant (LRG) programs--greatly reduce or eliminate loans in student aid awards and replace them with grants. This paper…

Rising tuition has led many states to offer college prepaid tuition plans. These plans are consistent with the trend in higher education policy toward meeting the needs of wealthier households. The paper argues that the public interest in these plans is hard to find; moreover, median voter theory suggests that prepaid tuition plans may have the…

Using national data from various sources, this study investigates the influence of financial aspects of state higher education policy on college completion. It found that college completion is positively associated with total state grants as a percentage of appropriations of state tax funds for operating expenses of higher education and state…

Examines shifts in federal student aid and research and development policies over two decades, and argues that policy changes have converged on public research universities, making them exemplars of Reagan economics marked by privatization, deregulation, and commercialization. Patterns of institutional resource allocation to departments are…