As states continue to implement merit-based financial aid programs, despite the well reported social ills of such programs, the research literature is surprisingly void of any systematic consideration of how states determine eligibility criteria for these scholarships.
The purpose of this dissertation is to deepen the descriptive and conceptual understanding of the process by which states determine merit aid scholarship criteria. Three theories of the public policy processadvocacy coalition framework (Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith, 1993), multiple streams (Kingdon, 1995; Zahariadis, 2003), and electoral connection (Fenno, 1978; Mayhew, 1974)guide this comparative case study of three states adoption of broad-based merit aid programs: New Mexico, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Data collected from archival sources and from interviews with fifty-six key policy actors are analyzed by employing deductive pattern matching techniques and by testing theoretical propositions through an inductive analytical framework.
A revised multiple streams model of scholarship criteria determination is presented based on the studys seven key findings: (1) multiple streams offers the highest explanatory power of the three frameworks; (2) state government and higher education system organizational structures affect the policy process through which policy alternatives are considered and adopted; (3) the availability of technical information increases temporally as a result of the diffusion of policy alternatives; (4) non-elected issue experts can have a stabilizing effect on the policy process; (5) the electoral connection of legislators and governors guides their policy preferences; (6) individual policy actors exert overwhelming influence over the policy process; and, (7) ambiguity and serendipity characterize the eligibility criteria determination process.
The implications for future research and for policy-practitioners include conceptual and theoretical considerations for the political dynamics of the policy process and the rising trend of higher education interests entering the political fray of the policymaking process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-04032006-143044 |
| Date | 17 April 2006 |
| Creators | Ness, Erik Christian |
| Contributors | Professor Michael K. McLendon, Professor James W. Guthrie, Professor James C. Hearn, Professor Donald E. Heller |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-04032006-143044/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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