Political rhetoric or policy re-invention:: can public colleges and universities become more committed to student success under performance-based funding policies?

Faced with increasing budget constraints and a greater need for a highly educated labor force, state governments have been making efforts to improve higher education productivity. Performance-based funding strategy is replacing the traditional enrollment-based funding methods. This dissertation examined the impact of performance-based funding policy on public higher education institutions, i.e. whether public colleges and universities became more committed to student success under this outcome-driven funding strategy. Through a state by state analysis of three states, the effects of different designs of performance-based funding policies on student-related expenditures were examined. Policy effects were also analyzed in both public 4-year systems and public 2-year systems.