Research and Publications - Education Policy Center

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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.
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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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    Performance Versus Promises: An Evaluation of Teach for America's Research Page
    (Education Policy Center, 2013-07) Kovacs, Philip; Slate-Young, Erica; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Teach for America is a widely praised program that puts teachers, usually liberal arts graduates from highly selective colleges and universities with minimal pedagogical training, into school classrooms.After laying off 300 veteran teachers in what was billed as a necessary budgetary move, Huntsville City Schools Board of Education announced a program to add TFA teachers which would cost a minimum of $700,000. This amount would eventually increase to $1.7 million. The contract stipulation that at least 170 TFA recruits would be hired in four, years makes the possible salary expense close to $ 2 million.
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    After the Great Recession: Higher Education's New Normal: An Analysis of National Surveys of Access and Finance Issues, 2011 to 2015
    (Education Policy Center, 2016-01) Katsinas, Stephen G.; D'Amico, Mark M.; Friedel, Janice N.; Adair, J. Lucas; Warner, Jake L.; Malley, Michael S.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This report draws upon National Surveys of Access and Finance Issues for the five years following the end of federal stimulus funding during the Great Recession. What has happed to public education and why? We find the following:The economic recovery following the Great Recession continues: In 2015 legislative sessions, respondents from just ten states report “Recession, producing a decline in state revenues” as a top budget driver, the lowest rating since 2006. As in 20147, during 2015 state legislative sessions, Elementary and Secondary Education and Medicaid were the top two budget drivers. Respondents from just six states report mid-year cuts at their public community colleges and regional and flagship universities.
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    Alabama Articulation and General Studies Committee & Statewide Transfer and Articulation Reporting System: Evaluation Project Final Report
    (Education Policy Center, 2016-09-30) Katsinas, Stephen G.; Bray, Nathaniel P.; Dotherow, James E.; Malley, Michael S.; Warner, Jake L.; Adair, J. Lucas; Roberts, John; Phillips, Undre V.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This evaluation essentially revolves around two key questions: How are we doing? & Where do we go from here?In considering these questions, it is imperative to differentiate between the terms “accountability” and “responsibility,” which all too often are used interchangeably. In determining the duties for which the AGSC&STARS are accountable, we find nearly unanimous compliance, and this is addressed in the first three guiding questions of the evaluation set forth by the five-member AGSC External Review Subcommittee:Is the AGSC&STARS program effective in meeting the legislative intent stated in Act 94-202, the original authorizing legislation?Were the recommendations that were made in the 2002 evaluation followed?Are key constituents satisfied with the services provided by AGSC&STARS?What recommendations does our study team have for improvements?
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    The 2016 Proposals for Higher Education: A View from the States: A Preliminary Report from a Special Section of the 2016 National Survey of Access and Finance Issues
    (Education Policy Center, 2016-11) Katsinas, Stephen G.; Adair, J. Lucas; Qiao, Fei; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This report is based upon the first 36 responses received from the2016 National Survey of Access and Finance Issues conducted bythe Education Policy Center (EPC) at the University of Alabama.Since 2007, the EPC has conducted annual surveys of members of theNational Council of State Directors of Community Colleges (NCSDCC). Atleast 49 of 51 possible responses have been obtained each year. NCSDCCmember’s knowledge of higher education access and finance issues extendswell beyond their own sector. Community colleges are a portal for millions ofacademically-talented, first-generation, minority, and low-income high schoolgraduates to higher education and the American dream.This report examines federal issues in higher education, including specificissues in the battleground states of the 2016 election (the 14 states definedby Real Clear Politics). This analysis contains 8 of the 14 battleground states.Further analysis of all 14-battleground states is forthcoming.
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    COVID-19 and Alabama’s Black Belt
    Corley, Emily Grace; Till, Garrett; O'Brien, Sean; Katsinas, Stephen G.; Bray, Nathaniel J.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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    Defining Alabama’s Black Belt Region
    Katsinas, Stephen G.; Keeney, Noel E.; Jacobs, Emily; Whann, Hunter; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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    School Enrollment in Alabama’s Black Belt Continues to Decline
    (Education Policy Center) Katsinas, Stephen G.; Keeney, Noel E.; Jacobs, Emily; Whann, Hunter; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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    Access to Early Childhood Interventions and First Class Pre-K in Alabama & the Black Belt Region
    Whann, Hunter; Keeney, Noel E.; Jacobs, Emily; Katsinas, Stephen G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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    K-12 STEM Education in Alabama’s Black Belt
    O'Brien, Sean; Corley, Emily Grace; Till, Garrett; Courchesne, Eric; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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    The Growing Impact of New Pell Grant Funding: A Statewide Profile of Iowa's Community Colleges
    Hagedorn, Linda Serra; Mensel, R. Frank; Friedel, Janice N.; Lui, Joyce; Smith, Dustin; Tarrant, Melissa; Kilgo, Rhonda; Clark, Chad; Katsinas, Stephen G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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    Oregon Pell Grants: Women Raise Rural Vigor
    (Education Policy Center) Mensel, Frank; Malley, Michael; Thomas, Reine
    The Pell Grant voucher is the Federal Government’s most significant program for access to Higher Education. This study of the Pell Grant voucher awarded by Oregon community colleges in the 2012-13 college year adds another graphic chapter to the series of such studies led by the Education Policy Center at The University of Alabama. Much of the series focus so far has been rural America. Of Oregon’s 17 community colleges, 14 are classified as rural-serving by the Basic Classification of the prestigous Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The other three are Portland, the largest urban community college of the Pacific Northwest, and the nearby suburban colleges of Mt. Hood and Clackamas. Most conspicuous in the data is the heavy dependence of rural colleges on the Pell Grant voucher. On average, at rural Oregon’s 14 colleges, Pell Grant recipients number more than half of the FTE enrollment. This is consistent with earlier state wide studies across Kansas, Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi, in which rural colleges commonly show half or more of their FTE enrollment earning credits through Pell.
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    Infrastructure in Alabama’s Black Belt
    Katsinas, Stephen G.; Corley, Emily Grace; Till, Garrett; O'Brien, Sean; Bray, Nathaniel J.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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    Educational Attainment, Community College, and Transfer in the Black Belt
    Till, Garrett; Corley, Emily Grace; O'Brien, Sean; Katsinas, Stephen G.; Bray, Nathaniel; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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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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    Black Belt Manufacturing and Economic Prospects
    Katsinas, Stephen G.; Bray, Nathaniel J.; Bowen, Jonathan; Corley, Emily Grace; Keeney, Noel E.; Whann, Hunter; Jacobs, Emily; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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    Healthcare: A Key Challenge in Alabama’s Black Belt
    Jacobs, Emily; Whann, Hunter; Corley, Emily Grace; Bowen, Jonathan; Keeney, Noel; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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    Internet Access Disparities in Alabama & the Black Belt
    Katsinas, Stephen G.; Keeney, Noel E.; Jacobs, Emily; Corley, Emily Grace; Whann, Hunter; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
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    The Black Belt’s Labor Force Participation Lags Behind the Rest of Alabama & the Nation
    Katsinas, Stephen G.; Keeney, Noel E.; Jacobs, Emily; Whann, Hunter; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa