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Abstract
TUITION DEPENDENCY IN AMERICAN PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATIONbyFRANK J. (MAC) MCCONNELL(Under the Direction of Robert K. Toutkoushian)ABSTRACT The precipitous change in the makeup of funding for higher education in America from a state supported, low student cost model to a high tuition, low state support model has created national animosity and challenges for senior leaders across the academy and is fundamentally challenging the notion of higher education serving a public good. This study seeks to examine changes in the makeup of public higher education funding. Additionally, this study asks if the association between state appropriations and tuition can be different based on how the variables are expressed. This quantitative analysis will utilize pooled regression models to examine data from 1987 2013 obtained from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, IPEDS Analytics: Delta Cost Project Database. In this study, I examine the association of tuition price change (dependent variable) with my primary independent (or predictor) variable of interest - state appropriations, to determine if the coefficient changes, either a positive to negative association based on the how the variables for tuition and state appropriations is measured. Additionally, independent variables associated with enrollment level, Carnegie classification, and geographic region are included to further inform the study. I demonstrate through multiple-model regressions that initial positive associations between total tuition revenues and total state appropriations are misleading and that different correlation results occur when the dependent variable is regressed as tuition per student, tuition per student adjusted for inflation, and tuition revenue as a percentage of total revenue.