Higher education is the third largest state expenditure behind K-12 and Medicaid but is generally more discretionary than most other budget categories. As demographic trends and economic downturns constrain state budgets, the delivery of state subsidies in higher education has increasingly shifted toward students via grant aid and away from institutions via appropriations. Since the 1990s, many states have changed the composition of their state subsidies in higher education to varying degrees. There is a rich literature that examines the effects of state subsidies on various aspects of the higher education market. This dissertation aims to contribute to the literature on two broad fronts. First, rather than state subsidy levels, theoretical and empirical emphasis is placed on subsidy composition, or the distribution of subsidies across three primary modes of delivery—appropriations, need-based grants, and non-need-based grants. This focus is meant to reflect the policy decision faced by states, especially during times of fiscal stress, and reveal insights into important economic considerations. Second, differential impacts of state subsidies are examined not only with respect to student ability and income but also college inputs of academic quality and amenities. College amenities are an important input in the higher education market in need of more theoretical and empirical analysis. The introduction briefly discusses the economic rationale for public subsidies in higher education and the complexity confronting states to subsidize the cost of college under various constraints and policy goals. Chapter 2 aims to orient the reader to the policy, trends, and research pertaining to state subsidies in higher education. Chapter 3 theoretically examines the response in student demand for educational resources and amenities to changes in state subsidy composition from which several policy implications and directions for future research are considered. Chapter 4 focuses on subsequent effects that changes in demand between educational resources and amenities may have on institutions. State subsidies and institutional expenditures between 1990 and 2016 are examined in order to determine whether the composition of state subsidies causes in-state institutions to alter expenditures in a way that reflects a divergence between educational and amenity inputs. Chapter 5 considers the role of college student migration with respect to state subsidies and student outcomes. State subsidies impact college choice, and in turn, alter the distance students migrate to attend college. The effect of distance on college student success is theoretically and empirically examined. Chapter 6 concludes with a summary and discussion of the main findings as well as ideas and directions for future research.

The purpose of this study is to present a descriptive analysis of the active participants in a voluntary association concerned with community development. This analysis will focus upon description and discussion of the socio-demographic characteristics of the active members of the organization. Some of the attitudinal factors which operated to motivate and sustain participation in the organization will also be examined. Before proceeding with discussion of the theoretical background for the study, the community and its history relative to development of the organization will be described.

The role of philanthropy in K-12 public education has historically ebbed and flowed in relation to public expenditures. Early K-12 education philanthropy peaked during and after the Civil War when philanthropists supported education for emancipated slaves through initiatives like Freeman’s Bureau, Slater Fund and Rosenwald Schools until state and federal governments assumed responsibility (Bremner, 1988; Finkenbine, 2003; Fleishman, 2009; Mays, 2006; Stephenson, 2012). With sufficient public support, K-12 education philanthropy did not see its next major wave of investments until the 1990s, with significant increases occurring after 2000. From 2000-2010 the number of education related grants from major national philanthropists increased from 1,200 to 2,600, and the amount of total funding, $486 million to $843 million (Reckhow & Snyder, 2014, p.3). The latest wave of education philanthropy occurs at the intersection of two key events: Funding challenges for public education and increasing philanthropic resources particularly among a new generation of philanthropists. While significant philanthropic resources have poured into K-12 public education, they are more likely to support changes in education policy than to provide direct support to the schools (Ferris, Hentschke, & Harmssen, 2008; Greene, 2015). In addition, rural communities receive very little support from national education philanthropy. Vermont is a rural state with a relatively successful K-12 public school system that faces significant funding challenges (Pache, 2017; Valley News, 2015). The questions at the core of this research are what role does philanthropy play in Vermont K-12 public education and what role might it play? To answer these questions, the literature provides a foundation by exploring the history of philanthropy in general, and specifically education philanthropy. Further literature review examines the current trends of using philanthropy to shape national education policy and fund programs that compete with public education. A gap in the research on rural philanthropy and rural K-12 education philanthropy provides the impetus for the focus on the rural schools in Vermont. The study focuses on two geographically defined regions in Vermont that utilize two different models of place-based philanthropy to support their public schools. The two case studies include interviews with 24 participants with backgrounds in and knowledge about education and philanthropy. In addition, document review was used to support and triangulate the findings. The findings, presented for each case and in a cross-case analysis, reveal the effective and unique ways these two rural areas use philanthropy to support its K-12 public schools. One model was regional with a focus on broad program support through use of local nonprofits, while the second model was town specific and provided direct support to the local schools. Both cases demonstrate the challenges and opportunities associated with place-based philanthropy. The conclusion offers further information on how schools and communities might develop their own place-based philanthropy.

This dissertation investigates the impacts of constraints on optimal government policy. The first two chapters provide a general introduction and review of the literature. Chapters three and four analyze education spending and institutional structure in an economy with informational asymmetries and employment matching frictions. The fifth investigates the impact of politics on government decisions over taxation and spending programs more generally. Chapter three analyzes the situation where governments can target education funds to specific observable groups (referred to as low and high productivity neighbourhoods/regions). The results suggest that it may be optimal to employ educational transfers, rather than cash transfers amongst individuals, to achieve social welfare objectives. This is becasue the former can reduce distortions created by the tax system. However, the value of educational spending in mitigating these information frictions may not be that large, and may in fact exacerbate such distortions. This suggests that an optimal education policy may be more regressive when there is a distortionary tax system in place. Further, we showt that even if ``equalizing opportunities'' is deemed optimal in the static problem, it may not be a reasonable policy goal when we extend the analysis to include dynamics. Chapter four is joint work with Afrasiab Mirza. We analyze an economy where heterogeneous individuals are uncertain about their endowments. The education system trades off the desire to capitalize on talent through specific skills training with the need to provide individuals with opportunities to learn about their career preferences through a broader education. The results consider the implications of various educational institutions for the income distribution and consequently welfare. Chapter five analyzes the dynamics of public spending, taxation and debt in a political agency model. Choices are made by short-lived politicians who can be only partially controlled through the electoral process. The main focus is to consider the impacts of binding limits on the public budget. The value of imposing this additional friction depends both on the extent to which politicians' goals deviate from their constituencies and how effectively the electoral process disciplines them when they misbehave. The results also suggest that the value of such a restriction depends on the fiscal position at the time in which it is imposed. / Thesis (Ph.D, Economics) -- Queen's University, 2009-11-25 20:25:29.12

This paper studies the educational effect of the two-way immersion dual language programs (DLE) in California’s public elementary school system using statewide testing scores as the common measurement tool. The average California Test Standards (CTS) test scores for English language arts (ELA), Mathematics and Science on the California statewide assessment, STAR, for 5th graders in the years 2009-2012, were utilized to compare student achievement for dual language participants to students in similar schools in the same district. Similar schools are matched to the participating schools by the state assigned schools ranking. This study evaluated DLE programs in terms of academic achievement and its effect on minimize the achievement gap between English learners (ELL) and English speakers (ES). The analysis consists of a series of OLS regression models that evaluates test scores on a series of variables that can help the state government assess quality of education received by DLE participants. I found a highly statistically significant correlation between ES’s achievement level and DLE participation, this relationship was consistent even when I considered scores from the far right tail of the achievement distribution. A positive but not statistically significant correlation was found for ELL in the participating schools. It should be noted that in this study, only those student who had yet to be identified as English proficient were considered under the ELL subgroup. Therefore, the end of the year examination might be testing language proficiency more than academic achievement. Nevertheless, DLE was found to be positive for all regressions.

Thèse (M.Ed.) -- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, en association avec Universidade do Estado da Bahia, 2004. / Bibliogr.: f. [120]-127. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

With more than $1.48 trillion in outstanding student loans and nearly five million Americans in default in 2017, student loans may pose one of the greatest threats to financial stability of individuals in the coming years. Failing to pay loans on time may result in wage garnishment and the suspension of Social Security payments. The second largest form of household debt, student loans are almost never dischargeable in bankruptcy and yet are critical for millions to make investments in human capital. This thesis utilizes the October 2017 addition of administrative data in the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) to analyze factors influencing likelihood of student loan default in the United States up to 20 years post-enrollment. It applies logistic regression analysis to BPS 1996 and BPS 2004 and is able to trace the evolution of contributing factors over time.

In this thesis, I analyze whether nutritional intake at the time of adolescence can impact academic attainment and earnings later on in life. Millions of children in the United States are living in food insecure households and do not have access to an adequate nutritious diet. Since adolescence is a time period of intense growth and development, it is essential to meet nutritional needs at this time. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), I measure the nutrition of a nationally representative sample of youth in the United States through their daily food intake, and test the effects nutrition during adolescence has on future outcomes. I find a positive relationship between healthy eating and educational achievement, as well as a negative relationship between unhealthy eating and educational attainment. Nutrition has a smaller effect on earnings, but the results show that there is a minor negative relationship between healthy eating and earnings.

Under 1990-talet infördes radikala, marknadsorienterade reformer i Sverige som gav upphov till utökade möjligheter att välja andra skolor än de kommunala. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka huruvida föräldrar värderar att bo i ett område med fler skolalternativ. Vi gör detta genom att studera effekten av andelen friskoleelever i en kommun på bostadspriser i kommunen. Studien använder paneldata på kommunnivå från 2010 till 2018 hämtad från Statistiska Centralbyrån (SCB) och Skolverket. Det empiriska sambandet analyseras med fixed effects modeller vilket möjliggör kontroll för års- och kommunfixa effekter. Resultatet visar att det finns ett positivt men statistiskt icke-signifikant samband mellan andelen friskoleelever och huspriser. Resultatet är robust mot en rad utförda känslighetstester. Studien finner således inte belägg för att föräldrar söker sig till områden med fler skolalternativ. Detta ger vare sig stöd för fortsatt implementering av liknande reformer som främjar alternativ till den kommunala skolan eller reformer som reducerar möjligheterna till skolval. / During the 1990s radical, market oriented reforms were implemented in Sweden which allowed for increased opportunities to choose other schools than the public. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether parents value living in an area with more school options. We do this by studying the effect of the share of pupils who are enrolled in a private school in a municipality on housing prices in that municipality. The study uses paneldata on the municipality level from 2010 to 2018 gathered from Statistics Sweden and the Swedish National Agency for Education. The empirical relationship is analyzed using fixed effects models which makes it possible to control for year and municipality fixed effects. The results show that a positive but statistically insignificant relationship exists between the share of private school students and housing prices. The result remains robust for different sensitivity tests. Therefore, the study does not find support for the assumption that parents value living in an area with more school options, which neither provides basis for further implementation of similar reforms that promote alternatives to public school nor reforms that reduce school choice.

School choice dominated discourses within educational policy in the last year; some have even described 2021 as “the year of school choice.” School choice allows public education funds to follow students to the schools or services that best fit their needs. This is often summarized by its advocates as “funding students over systems.” Generally, school choice allows market forces to influence education by providing more competition in the education market. Teachers’ unions have fought against school choice measures for years, but what impact do they have? This undergraduate thesis compares 49 states to determine if the proportion of public school teachers in teachers’ unions in a given state serves as a proxy to measure the impact of unions and to discover whether teachers’ unions influenced whether a state passed new school choice legislation in 2021. By employing a binary logistic regression analysis, the results provide evidence that as the share of public school teachers who are union members increases, a state’s likelihood to pass new school choice legislation increases. This thesis gives a broad view of the impact teachers’ unions have on school choice at the state level, but more research detailing the ways unions leverage these effects and how politicians respond to teachers’ unions in their states would be valuable.