The overall slice of state budgets allocated to higher education has declined significantly over the past three decades. Public institutions, where about 80 percent of all college students and 65 percent of all four-year college students are educated, are faced with enormous challenges of trying to maintain quality while preserving broad-based access to education. Institutions have been forced to hire more part-time and adjunct faculty instead of higher-cost tenured or tenure-track faculty, which, according to recent research, can result in higher drop-out rates among students. As the resources of state institutions have fallen relative to those of private institutions, it has become more challenging for state institutions to lure top talent and the research dollars they attract.
On May 22-23, 2005, the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute (CHERI), with support from the TIAA-CREF Institute, hosted this conference to examine changes in public higher education over the last quarter century. Conference presenters were leading researchers from around the country who have studied the causes of the changing finances of public higher education—and the ways in which these changes have affected public higher education institutions, their students, and their potential students.
Papers presented at the conference can be accessed from the CHERI website under the “conferences” link.
A Trends & Issues written by TIAA-CREF Institute Fellow and CHERI Director Ronald G. Ehrenberg that summarizes the discussions and papers presented at the conference is also available.
