Higher Education Finance

The Private Side of Public Universities: Third-party providers and platform capitalism by Laura T. Hamilton et al. CSHE 3.22 (June 2022)

Laura T. Hamilton
Heather Daniels
Christian Michael Smith
Charlie Eaton
2022

The rapid rise of online enrollments in public universities has been fueled by a reliance on for-profit, third-party providers—especially online program managers. However, scholars know very little about the potential problems with this arrangement. We conduct a mixed methods analysis of 229 contracts between third-party providers and 117 two-year and four-year public universities in the US, data on the financing structure of third-party providers, and university online education webpages. We ask: What are the mechanisms through which third-party relationships with universities may be...

A Case for For-Profit Private Higher Education in India by Asha Gupta, CSHE 8.22 (October 2022)

Asha Gupta
2022

India has the credit of running the second largest higher education system in terms of institutions worldwide, despite having only 26.3% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER), including vocational education. It aspires to achieve a target of 50% GER by 2035. It means it would require a larger number of higher education institutions (HEIs), public and private, in addition to huge fiscal resources. At present about 75% of the HEIs are privately managed with about 66% of student enrolment. Though there is no provision of for-profit higher education institutions in India, many non-profit private HEIs...

How Helpful Are Average Wage-By-Major Statistics In Choosing A Field Of Study? by Zachary Bleemer, CSHE.1.24 (January 2024)

Zachary Bleemer
2024

Average-wage-by-major statistics have become widely available to students interested in the economic ramifications of their college major choice. However, earning a major with higher average wages does not necessarily lead individual students to higher-paying careers. This essay combines literature review with novel analysis of longitudinal student outcomes to discuss how students use average-wage-by-major statistics and document seven reasons that they may differ, sharply in some cases, from the causal wage effects of major choice. I focus on the ramifications of two-sided non-random...

Exploring Funding Options for the University of California by John Aubrey Douglass

John Aubrey Douglass
2018
Despite massive cuts in state funding over the past thirty years, the University of California has managed to keep enrollment on pace with growth in population. With California’s population projected to grow 22.5 percent (from 40 to 49 million by 2040), that will no longer be the case, unless UC is able to find a new funding model. Informed by the historical analysis in the report Approaching a Tipping Point: A History and Prospectus of Funding for the University of California, this essay revisits the options for funding UC from that report, including: reinvestment by California lawmakers and...

The Allure of Free Tuition

John Aubrey Douglass
2020

Throughout the world, tuition at any level is regarded as a significant barrier for university access to disadvantaged socioeconomic
groups. In the United States, student debt levels are at an historic high. In most cases, the political movement for free tuition does not provide any significant plan on how to make up lost revenue. Consolidating existing financial aid sources, combined with progressive tuition levels, may be a promising model.

Michele Meoli

Associate Professor, Department of Management, Information and Production Engineering, University of Bergamo

Michele Meoli is Associate Professor of Finance at the Department of Management, Information and Production Engineering, University of Bergamo, and Deputy Director of the CISAlpino Institute for Comparative Studies in Europe (CCSE), University of Bergamo and University of Augsburg, where he coordinates the Research Group on Higher Education. He was Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Centre for Econometrics Analysis, Cass Business School (City University, London). His research interests include Corporate Governance, Corporate Finance, Academic entrepreneurship, Higher Education and Science...

James Johnsen

Senior Fellow, National Association of System Heads

Jim is Senior Fellow at the National Association of System Heads (NASH) and Lecturer in the School of Management at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. At NASH Jim is working with leaders and scholars on a major “rethink” of the role of public university systems in achieving societal goals in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. He is a member of the Westerrn Commission on Higher Education.

Jim was President of the University of Alaska system from 2015 to 2020 during a period of severe state funding cuts, administrative consolidation, and academic...

Gary Matkin

Former Dean of Continuing Education, University of California, Irvine
Former Dean, Continuing Education, Distance Learning, and Summer Session Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1989, Education M.B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1970, Political Aspects of Business B.S., University of San Francisco, 1966, Accounting Certified Public Accountant (inactive), 1966, California License E14426 Other Experience Associate Dean, CE, UC Berkeley 1990-2000 Director, Admin Services, UC Berkeley 1975-1990 Business Officer, UC Berkeley 1973-1975 CPA, Various 1966-1973 Download Gary W....

Janet Holmgren, Ph.D.

President Emerita, Mills College – Oakland, California; Senior Vice President for Strategic Advancement, University Now – San Francisco, California

Janet L. Holmgren is a consultant to higher education and nonprofit organizations. Her current and recent consulting work includes the Lower Cost Models for Independent Colleges Consortium, Bay Path University, the Women’s College Coalition, the East Bay Community Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Davis Education Foundation, the Peralta Community Colleges, Cooper University, UniversityNow, and the University of Advanced Technology. She speaks annually at the Education Leadership Academy of the University of California, Berkeley and is an adjunct faculty...

George Blumenthal

Former Director, Center for Studies in Higher Education and Chancellor Emeritus, UC Santa Cruz

George R. Blumenthal served as Director of the Center for Studies in Higher Education from 2019 until 2023. He continues his involvement with CSHE as Affiliated Faculty and as a member of the ELA Advisory Board.

Blumenthal was UC Santa Cruz's 10th chancellor. He joined the campus in 1972 as a faculty member in astronomy and astrophysics and was named chancellor on September 19, 2007, after serving as acting chancellor for 14 months.

The Blumenthal era has been marked by a commitment to ensuring that the doors of opportunity at UC Santa Cruz are open to all:

The number...