Browsing by Author "Koh, Jonathan P."

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    A comprehensive analysis of community college funding mixes by state, size, and setting: 2003-2004 to 2013-2014
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Koh, Jonathan P.; Katsinas, Stephen G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The ever-changing landscape of community college finance maintains the need for consistent and continuous research to develop best practices. Policy analysis can inform best practices. The need to constantly improve our knowledge base to inform policy and ensure efficient use of tax payer dollars always exists. Recent community college finance literature analyzes public two-year colleges in their entirety, but national averages mask stark differences in mission, function, and funding – especially local funding – that exist across the 50 states, leaving a large gap in this research. These differences – well known to community college policymakers and community college scholars, have been magnified due to steep declines in state funding over the recent years. Yet they are not well known by sociologists, economists and political scientists focusing on STEM, healthcare, workforce, or college completion issues. The purpose of this study is to build a reliable data base of revenue across all 50 state systems of community colleges that accurately illustrates state funding flows from 2003-04 to 2013-14. In addition to the need for a consistent categorical analysis of state funding mixtures for community colleges, the ability to analyze geographical differences in relation to the categorical funding mixes at these critically important institutions creates an opportunity for researchers and policy analysts alike to compare similar colleges on a case-by-case basis. Over the course of three articles, public community college revenue streams and enrollment are analyzed in a comprehensive manner that accounts for state funding differences, institutional size, and institutional setting. The first article uncovers the differences and similarities in the varying funding streams that exist for community colleges over time. The second article offers a student perspective of funding for unmet financial need to access community college education, taking into account the legislative funding differences across the 50 states and across the different institutions by size and geographic setting. Article three considers tax capacity and effort exerted by each state in 2013-14. Through all of these articles, this study takes a close look into the differences and inequalities experienced across the different states and is intended for reference by policy makers looking to investigate best practices.
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    The Economic & Social Impacts of Alabama Public Higher Education
    Katsinas, Stephen G.; Koh, Jonathan P.; Murphy, David S.; Lacey, Vincent A.; Fincher, Mark E.; DeMonBrun, R. Matthew; Bray, Nathaniel J.; Breaux, Arleene P.; Malley, Michael S. Jr.; Adair, J. Lucas; Shedd, Louis E.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama has completed an objective analysis to determine whether there is a quantifiable relationship between the funding of Alabama’s universities and the per capita income of Alabama’s citizens. The study revealed a statistically signifcant relationship. Alabama’s state-wide per capita income rises in direct proportion to Alabama’s funding of its public higher education institutions. Alabama gains a quantifiable return on its investment in higher education. Simply put, the more Alabama spends on universities, the better off Alabamians will be.
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    The Impact of New Pell Grant Restrictions on Community Colleges: A Three State Study of Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi
    (Education Policy Center, 2013-01) Katsinas, Stephen G.; Davis, James E.; Friedel, Janice N.; Koh, Jonathan P.; Grant, Phillip D.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    From Fall 2011 to Fall 2012, enrollment declined at 47 of the 62 two-year colleges in Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi, and as shown below, changes in Pell Grant eligibility is the major reason why. This report argues that community college students in these three states are highly sensitive to changes in Pell Grant eligibility, and that new restrictions enacted by Congress in June 2012, effective with the Fall 2012 term, have had a dramatically negative impact.Issues of access to postsecondary education have long been an interest of the Education Policy Center at The University of Alabama. The Center has conducted 18 studies over the past five years on rural access issues, and its associates have been involved with numerous additional refereed publications on rural community college finance, STEM, students, and financial aid issues. It is most appropriate that we examine the impact of recent Pell Grant eligibility changes at community collegesin Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
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    Pell Grant's Vital Role in Lifting Up Mississippi
    (Education Policy Center) Katsinas, Stephen G.; Davis, James E.; Koh, Jonathan P.; Grant, Phillip D.
    Recent years have seen significant growth in the federal government’s foundational program to provide for access to college, the Pell Grant program. Nationally, the number of Pell participants have increased by 50% since 2008, from 6 million to 9 million students. This reflects a federal commitment to serve a fast-growing traditional-aged population—there were one million more Americans ages 18 to 24 years old in 2012 than in 2009. For Mississippi students and families, and community colleges, the timing of these increases could not have been better, as the state entered a long recession. The National Bureau of Economic Research, the federal agency that determines when recessions start and end, affixes June 2007 as the recession’s start. In July of 2007, the unemployment rate was above 5% in just 12 states; by July of 2009 it was below 5% in only 3. The “Great Recession” produced double-digit statewide unemployment rates in Mississippi. In October 2012, Mississippi’s statewide unemployment rate of 9.2% was well above the 7.8% national average.4 Only the northeast and coastal regions have lower rates.
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    A Study of Pell Grants in Alabama
    (Education Policy Center, 2012-11-26) Katsinas, Stephen G.; Bray, Nathaniel J.; Koh, Jonathan P.; Grant, Phillip D.; Alabama Commission on Higher Education; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Participation in the most basic national program to provide access to college, the federal Pell Grant program, has increased by 50% since 2008, from 6 million to 9 million students. The timing of these Pell increases could not have been better for Alabama students and families, coming at the precise time as the nation entered a lengthy period of high unemployment.The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is the non-partisan federal agency that determines when recessions officially start and end. The NBER affixed June 2007 as the recession’s start. In July 2007, as Table 1 shows, the unemployment rate was above 5% in 12 states. By July of 2009 it was below 5% in just 1 state; and had jumped to above 5% in 49 states. It has remained above 5% nationally and in Alabama since then.