WICHE Publications : Policymakers and researchers

  • After the Funding Is Through: CACG Program Sustainability

    Entering a phase of significant uncertainty regarding future funding, College Access Challenge Grant programs must implement strategies to ensure the sustainability of their effective programs. This brief discusses four potential strategies that state programs can employ to increase the likelihood that their programs--which focus on increasing the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education--will continue should funding end as expected in 2015 or possibly sooner.

    2013 ~ 4pp. ~ Pub #2A384 ~ PDF ~ 144KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Demography as Destiny

    This policy brief summarizes the main findings from WICHE's recently released eighth edition of Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates publication. The brief places changes in the size and racial/ethnic composition of our nation's graduating classes in the context of the college completion agenda and the need for greater educational attainment. It also addresses how these demographic shifts, coupled with fiscal stress, are impacting the practice of enrollment management. It concludes by offering reflections on how policymakers and institutional leaders can respond to these challenges with policies and practices that align with society's rising needs and expectations for higher education.

    2013 ~ 8pp. ~ Pub #2A385 ~ PDF ~ 151 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Going the Distance in Adult College Completion: Lessons from the 'Non-traditional No More' Project

    From 2008 to 2011, WICHE worked with six states (Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, and South Dakota) to improve policies and practices to increase adult degree completion as a way to raise overall state educational attainment levels. With funding from Lumina Foundation, the project, known as Nontraditional No More: Policy Solutions for Adult Learners, identified and eliminated barriers that keep adults with prior college credit from returning to postsecondary education and completing their degrees. By bringing together state and institutional leaders, the project pursued two main objectives: identifying “ready adults,” or those who earned a significant number of prior college credits before leaving postsecondary education without earning a credential; and building a pathway to postsecondary success.

    2012 ~ 58pp. ~ Pub #2A379 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 979 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates 8th Edition, December 2012

    This 8th edition of WICHE's Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates (click for website) includes data on enrollments and graduates by state and for major racial/ethnic groups covering the period from 2009-10 to 2027-28.

    2012 ~ 149pp. ~ Pub #2A366 ~ PDF ~ LINK ~ 3 MB (entire publication)~ DOWNLOAD

  • New Approaches to the New Normal: Recapping 2012 Higher Education Legislative Activity in the West

    While tax revenues in many Western states have improved since FY 2011, the 2012 legislative sessions still experienced what has become the familiar round of funding cuts to higher education, coupled with tuition increases for students. The good news is that the cuts and increases weren’t as severe as in previous years, despite continued aversion to spending by most state legislatures. The bad news is that the loss of stimulus funds and the rising cost of health care, K-12 education, and other public services mean that states still face a tremendous amount of economic pressure. This Policy Insights brief summarizes key themes from the 2012 legislative sessions and highlights some emerging issues to watch in the West.

    2012 ~ 8pp. ~ Pub #2A382 ~ PDF ~ 296 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Policy Exchanges: Strategies for Success: Promising Ideas in Adult College Completion

    This publication is the first of a series focusing on promising new ideas and innovative practices developed through the Adult College Completion Network. The brief addresses five topics of importance to those working to improve adult college completion.

    • Data availability particular to the returning adult population

    • Partnerships between employers and higher education institutions

    • Communications and marketing campaigns to reach and reengage adults with prior college credit

    • Transfer credits

    • Prior learning assessment

     

    2012 ~ Pub #2A381 ~ PDF ~ 403 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Tuition and Fees in Public Higher Education in the West, 2012-2013: Detailed Tuition and Fees Tables

    This report is the latest update of WICHE's annual report on tuition and mandatory fees at public institutions in WICHE's 15-state region, including an institution-by-institution historical review of tuition changes from year to year, as well as those from one, five, and ten years ago. Beginning with 2010-11 and continuing this year, this report presents published tuition and fees amounts as averages both unweighted and weighted by full-time equivalent enrollments. Unlike unweighted averages, which treat each institution equally no matter how big or small it is, enrollment-weighted averages provide a truer estimate of the published price a typical student faces based on enrollment patterns. Appendix E provides more information regarding enrollment weighting. In addition to the full report, all tuition and fee data tables are available to download in Excel format below.

    2012 ~ Pub #2A346I ~ 2.42 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Tuition and Fees in the West 2011-12

    WICHE's Policy Analysis and Research unit has released a new Policy Insight covering our most recent survey of published tuition and fees prices in all public institutions in the West in 2011-12. The report summarizes those findings and also addresses related state finance policies including state budget levels and higher education appropriations and state financial aid programs.

    CORRECTIONS APPLIED: MARCH 21, 2012

    2012 ~ PDF ~ 240 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Undocumented Students in the West

    The question of whether undocumented students have a right to broad access to higher education is a debate that cuts across party lines and political ideologies, sometimes in unpredictable, rhetorically charged ways. “Undocumented Students in the West,” a new Policy Insights brief from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, examines changing student demographics in the states and how the undocumented population may impact higher education in the years to come. In addition to detailing the characteristics of the undocumented population, the brief provides an overview of the state policy landscape surrounding the issue, including a summary of legislation affecting undocumented students in Western states. The brief further outlines some of the possible implications of either extending or restricting higher education benefits to undocumented students.

    2012 ~ PDF ~ 273 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • WICHE 2013 Workplan

    WICHE and its 15 member states work to improve access to higher education and ensure student success. Our student exchange programs, regional initiatives, and research and policy work allow us to assist constituents throughout the West and beyond. In fiscal 2013 WICHE's four units - Programs and Services, Policy Analysis and Research, Mental Health Program, and WCET - will strive to assist the West's institutions and students, focusing on five areas: finance; access and success; workforce and society; technology and innovation; and accountability. In the 2013 Workplan, we describe existing activities, as well as initiatives that are new directions or on the horizon, by unit. Along with a brief narrative of each project, we include its focus area/s; priority in terms of WICHE's mission; funding source and amount; staffing level; timeline; organizational partners; and state institutional partners.

    2012 ~ 29pp. ~ PDF ~ 515 kb~ DOWNLOAD

  • College Access Challenge Grant (CACG) Program

    The brief discusses promising new ideas and methods that states in WICHE's College Access Challenge Grant (CACG) Network are employing to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enroll and succeed in postsecondary education. The brief focuses on how Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming are utilizing partnerships with other entities, FAFSA completion programs, peer mentoring, and need-based financial aid in implementing their federally-funded CACG programs. 

    2011 ~ 8pp. ~ Pub #2A378 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 166 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Crisis/Opportunity — WICHE 2011 Annual Report
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    In the face of dwindling state support to adequately fund higher education, we know we still need to produce more postsecondary graduates; and because we need to reach deeper into the low-income and minority communities to do so, controlling costs and keeping tuition affordable is critical. Along with challenging economic circumstances (and in some cases because of them), four issues have come to the forefront in the West, in addition to the key issue of productivity: performance funding; governance changes; accountability; and innovation. It is clear that the demands on our higher education systems and our institutions will continue to grow and that state funding levels will not keep pace. Let's hope the last year, challenging though it was for many states, yields more such innovations in the future.

    2011 ~ PDF ~ 949 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • The College Access Challenge Grant (CACG) Program (2011)
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    This policy brief describes promising practices and lessons learned in Alaska, Nevada, North Dakota, and Washington during the second year of the federal College Access Challenge Grant program.

    2011 ~ 8pp. ~ PDF ~ 140 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • The Common Core State Standards: Implications for Higher Education in the West
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    The Common Core State Standards are an unprecedented movement toward common academic standards in K-12 education. They create important challenges and implications for higher education.

    2011 ~ 6pp. ~ Pub #399 KB ~ PDF ~ DOWNLOAD

  • Fostering Collaborative State-Level Education and Workforce Database Development
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    2009 ~ 8pp. ~ PDF ~ 507 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • A Closer Look at Healthcare Workforce Needs in the West : Medical Education
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    This report highlights three interrelated workforce issues of importance to physicians and medical schools that prepare individuals for a career in medicine: the shortage of physicians and the planned expansion of medical school enrollment, medical student indebtedness, and primary care physician service with emphasis on care delivery in rural areas. The West’s demographics present unique challenges in educating our future healthcare professionals, and this analysis suggests strategies for how Western states can link their resources to respond, particularly in higher education.

    2008 ~ 16pp. ~ PDF ~ 289 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • A Closer Look at Healthcare Workforce Needs in the West : Oral Healthcare
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    The development of the future oral healthcare workforce is a central focus of WICHE, which has a long history of partnering with states to improve access to dental and other professional training via the Professional Student Exchange Program. This report highlights some of the key trends, issues, and challenges the WICHE region is facing with regard to the oral health care workforce.

    2008 ~ 15pp. ~ PDF ~ 1.47 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • A Closer Look at Healthcare Workforce Needs in the West : Pharmacy
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    Pharmacy, with more than 230,000 practitioners today, is the third-largest health profession in the United States. Research on the national pharmacist workforce points to a continuing shortage of pharmacists, related to growth in medication use, the aging of the baby boomer generation, and the emergence of more clinical activities within pharmacies. Surveys that track shortage levels showed that there was a slow downward trend in the severity of shortages up until fall 2005, followed by higher shortage levels during the past year. Changes in shortage levels appear to parallel growth in prescription medication usage. WICHE’s Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP) allows students from states that do not have a public school of pharmacy to pay reduced tuition to a cooperating institution in the West. Sending states determine the number of new students to be supported each year. In 2006-07, 40 students from Alaska, Hawaii, and Nevada attended 16 cooperating pharmacy schools.

    2008 ~ 4pp. ~ PDF ~ 180 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Are Your Online Students Really the Ones Registered for the Course? A WCET Briefing Paper

    This is a WCET Briefing Paper on the pending federal legislation concerning the authentication of distance education students. The paper provides an overview of the proposed legislation and describes some strategies to promote academic integrity in distance education (e.g. prevention approaches, compliance approaches). It provides a general overview of ways to promote academic integrity.

    2008 ~ 3pp. ~ PDF ~ 30 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Benchmarks: WICHE Region 2008
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    This report presents information on the West’s progress in improving access to, success in, and financing of higher education. The information is updated annually to monitor change over time and encourage its use as a current tool for informed discussion in policy and education communities, focusing demographics related to Access, Success, and Finance in the West.

    2008 ~ 4pp. ~ PDF ~ 339 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Beyond Social Justice The Threat of Inequality to Workforce Development in the Western United States
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    With support from the Ford Foundation, WICHE focues this report on the states of the West, their ability to educate minorities, and the resulting impact on their workforces and economies.

    2008 ~ 32pp. ~ Pub #2A369 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 741 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Getting What You Pay For Policy Briefs
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    Specifically designed to reach out to the nation’s state legislators, Getting What You Pay For: Understanding Appropriations, Tuition, and Financial Aid, continues the effort to expand access and success for all students through eight concise policy briefs designed to identify best practices and ensure that every available state dollar works for students, not against them. Each brief is available as a PDF download from the Web site.

    2008 ~ Web page ~ LINK

  • Higher Education : The Engine of Economic Opportunity - WICHE Workplan 2009
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    In fiscal 2009 WICHE and its four units - Public Policy and Research, Programs and Services, WCET, and Mental Health - will work to build a better education engine via our efforts in our five areas: finance, access and success, workforce and social issues, technology and innovoation, and accountability.

    2008 ~ 19pp. ~ PDF ~ 256 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Identifying Stakeholders to Pay for Enhanced Depression Treatment in Rural Populations
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    Working Paper

    From the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research, this study investigates whether two of the multiple stakeholder groups (health plans and employer purchasers) in two delivery systems (rural and urban) economically benefit from improved depression treatment by testing whether depression care management results in: (1) a greater reduction of utilization costs in insured rural patients than their urban counterparts (health plan stakeholders), and (2) a greater reduction in work costs in employed urban patients than their rural counterparts (employer purchaser stakeholders).

    2008 ~ 21pp. ~ PDF ~ 84 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Integrating Higher Education Financial Aid and Financing Policy: Case Studies from the Changing Direction States
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    One of WICHE’s primary activities of the Changing Direction project (funded by Lumina Foundation for Education) was to provide direct technical assistance to states that were seriously considering higher education financing issues in new ways. WICHE chose 14 states for the project and worked closely with each for a two-year period to develop a more comprehensive state policymaking framework and process so that policies related to appropriations, tuition, and financial aid were better aligned, occurred in an environment of collaboration, and supported state goals for higher education. In an effort to chronicle the states’ progress and developments as well as share the lessons learned, this publication offers a compilation of case studies written about the Changing Direction technical assistance states.

    2008 ~ 89pp. ~ Pub #2A357 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 980 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Sustaining a Public Agenda for Higher Education: A Case Study of the North Dakota Higher Education Roundtable
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    Based on document analysis and 40 interviews with Roundtable participants and other stakeholders across North Dakota, this report assesses the factors that enabled the North Dakota Higher Education Roundtable vision to be sustained for more than seven years, identifies obstacles encountered during the sustainability process, and provides suggestions to help other states build and eventually sustain their own public agenda.

    2008 ~ 26pp. ~ Pub #2A370 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 279 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • The Funding of Academic Collaborations
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    This paper presents the results of a survey “Academic Collaborations,” which are defined as inter-institutional organizations that share resources to increase institutional capacity for, sharing of, and access to technology-mediated courses and programs. Findings focus on sources of revenue, amount of funding, and effective funding models. U.S., Canadian, and multi-state/province organizations were included in the study

    2008 ~ 52pp. ~ Pub #2A366 ~ PDF ~ 1.6 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Tuition and Fees in Public Higher Education in the West, 2008-2009: Detailed Tuition and Fees Tables
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    Tuition and required fees at four-year institutions are reported by institution for four categories of students: resident undergraduate, nonresident undergraduate, resident graduate, and nonresident graduate. Tuition and required fees at two-year institutions are reported for resident in-district and nonresident students. Averages are reported for the region and for each of the 15 WICHE states. Also included are comparisons of tuition and fees by Carnegie Classification based on the 2005 Carnegie Classification of Higher Education Institutions. Tuition is defined as the total dollar amount charged to a full-time student for a full academic year, usually two semesters, three quarters, or two trimesters. Required fees include the institutional fees that a majority of full-time students are required to pay in addition to tuition.

    2008 ~ 63pp. ~ Pub #2A346G ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 1.2 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • WICHE Region - Medical School Expansion Activity

    An overview of expansion plans for schools of medicine in the West, highlighted by states, medical schools, first-year student enrollments, expansion activities, and contact information.

    2008 ~ 11pp. ~ PDF ~ 73 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • WICHE Region – Medical School Rural-related Activities

    A summary of rural-related activities at schools of medicine in the West outlined by states, medical schools, student participation, recruitment methods, and contact information.

    2008 ~ 17pp. ~ PDF ~ 95 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • A Closer Look at Healthcare Workforce Needs in the West : Health Information Technology
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    With significant, industrywide advancements in health information technology (IT), institutions of higher education in the West will be called upon to provide a new generation of health IT graduates. New academic programs must be developed, existing programs will need to be retooled, and student recruitment strategies will be required to meet the health IT workforce demands of the future.

    2007 ~ 6pp. ~ PDF ~ 902 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Identifying At-risk Rural Areas for Targeting Enhanced Schizophrenia Treatment
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    Policy Brief

    From the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research, this policy brief summarizes nationally representative data on community-level risk factors associated with schizophrenia hospitalizations. It examines how socio-economic factors and the makeup of local health care systems affect the rate of schizophrenia hospitalizations. It identifies geographic areas with elevated rates. It also presents a discussion about the findings. It should be of interest to government and private health plan administrators, as well as those responsible for designing mental health delivery systems – anyone interested in creating outpatient treatment programs that may prevent costly hospitalizations.

    2007 ~ 2pp. ~ PDF ~ 88 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Preventing Hospitalization in Depressed Rural Patients

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    Policy Brief

    From the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research, this study examines whether depressed rural primary care patients are more likely than urban patients to be hospitalized; it investigates whether differences in hospitalization rates can be explained by differences in the utilization of specialty outpatient care; and it looks at whether rural patients face more “insurance barriers” to outpatient care. This study should be of interest to policy makers and administrators seeking to develop better delivery systems for rural mental health services. It should also be of interest to insurers, self-insured employers and other payers seeking the most effective use of health care expenditures.

    2007 ~ 2pp. ~ PDF ~ 100 KB~ DOWNLOAD

    • ADDITIONAL DETAILS, LINKS, AND DOWNLOADS +
      Executive summary

      1p ~ PDF ~ 9 KB ~ DOWNLOAD

  • State Grant Aid and Its Effect on Students' College Choices
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    WICHE commissioned this paper to help policy leaders and decision makers understand the impact of selected state financial aid programs on students’ choices – choices of which college to attend, where to attend college, and even whether to attend college at all. As the paper shows, states have created grant-aid programs for a variety of reasons and through a variety of funding sources. Among the most popular and growing forms of state grant-aid programs are those that blend financial need with certain academic benchmarks for students’ high school course of study (to aid academic preparation for college) and benchmarks for continued academic progress in college (to aid in persistence to degree). Through an examination of grant-aid programs in 11 states, this analysis identifies the start date for the programs and describes the qualifications for eligibility, the legislation that established the programs, and the policies and political environments involved in creating them. In addition, the authors discuss programmatic impacts on students’ choices and make several recommendations to states that are considering creating grant-aid programs.

    2007 ~ 40pp. ~ Pub #2A363 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 472 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • State Inventory of Rural Health Practice Incentives in the Western WICHE States
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    Attracting health, oral health, and behavioral health professionals to rural and underserved areas continues to be an enormous challenge. Lower salaries, high educational debt load, professional isolation, and urban-centric policy barriers in underserved and rural areas are deterrents for professionals. WICHE and its 15 member states want to develop a comprehensive strategy for the regional health care workforce to help recruit, train, and retain professionals to serve the rural areas of the West.

    2007 ~ 94pp. ~ PDF ~ 545 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Strategies for Improving Student Success in Postsecondary Education
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    State and federal policy need to provide greater incentives, both to students and to the institutions that serve them, to enhance the likelihood of student success. In this paper Art Hauptman adds substantially to the body of work that has been supported by Lumina Foundation for Education in WICHE’s Changing Direction project, which has focused on how states can intentionally change finance policies– appropriations, tuition, and financial aid– to expand access to success, particularly for the most at-risk young adults.

    2007 ~ 26pp. ~ Pub #2A361 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 1.2 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • The Emerging Policy Triangle: Economic Development, Workforce Development and Education
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    This report, funded through a grant from the Ford Foundation, seeks to better inform legislators and other key policymakers about the confluence of forces bearing down on higher education and the resulting impacts to state goals and priorities. Using an array of data, the report highlights the ways in which a state’s stock of human capital is depleted and replenished through education, migration, and the aging of the workforce (i.e., retirements). This edition includes profiles for all 50 states and international comparative data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showing how well the United States and its individual states fare in comparison to other countries on measures of educational attainment. These data provide a benchmark for action, given the interrelatedness and heightened competition of an increasingly global economy. In addition, they are sobering evidence that more attention must be paid to how states can better harness the resources of their higher education systems to assure that they remain competitive in the decades to come.

    2007 ~ 124pp. ~ Pub #2A364 ~ PDF ~ 1 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Thinking Outside the Box: Policy Strategies for Readiness, Access, and Success
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    Too often, when one state engages in successful “outside-the-box” policymaking, other states simply adopt that solution wholesale – as if it were a one-size-fits-all “policy-in-a-box.” This publication describes a number of policy strategies – both inside-the-box and outside-the-box – and discusses how they address various possible policy purposes. Thinking Outside the Box provides a systematic discussion of policy alignment around readiness, access, and success and examines them in the light of four policy tools: finance, regulation, accountability, and governance. This latest publication is supported by Lumina Foundation for Education in WICHE’s Changing Direction project.

    2007 ~ 60pp. ~ Pub #2A362 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 354 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Benchmarks: WICHE Region 2005
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    Presents information on the West’s progress in improving access to, success in, and financing of higher education. The information is updated annually to monitor change over time and encourage its use as a current tool for informed discussion in policy and education communities.

    2005 ~ 4pp. ~ PDF ~ 225 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Community Level Risk Factors for Depression Hospitalizations
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    Working Paper

    From the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research, this study is the first to identify community-level risk factors for depression hospitalizations in urban and rural counties. It also identifies rural and urban areas with elevated hospitalization rates, which should be of interest to government officials, health plans and self-insured employers/payers seeking to control costs by preventing unnecessary hospitalizations.

    2005 ~ 21pp. ~ PDF ~ 334 KB~ DOWNLOAD

    • ADDITIONAL DETAILS, LINKS, AND DOWNLOADS +
      Policy Brief

      91 KB ~ DOWNLOAD

      Executive Summary

      9 KB ~ DOWNLOAD

  • Differential Effectiveness of Enhanced Depression Treatment for Rural and Urban Primary Care Patients
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    Working Paper

    From the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research, this study explores whether enhanced depression care has comparable impact on clinical outcomes over two years for patients treated in rural and urban primary care practices and whether differences are mediated by receiving evidence-based care (pharmacotherapy and specialty care counseling).

    2005 ~ 14pp. ~ PDF ~ 84 KB~ DOWNLOAD

    • ADDITIONAL DETAILS, LINKS, AND DOWNLOADS +
      Executive Summary

      1p. ~ PDF ~ 9 KB ~ DOWNLOAD

  • Early Commitment Financial Aid Programs: Promises, Practices, and Policies
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    This paper is intended as a resource for people interested in early commitment programs. It describes existing programs and the various approaches they use. It includes programs mandated by state and federal policies, as well as those sponsored by states and school districts in partnership with private-sector funders. The study identifies practices that appear to work and proposes specific guidelines for state, school district, and other leaders who are interested in starting new early financial aid commitment programs.

    2005 ~ 56pp. ~ PDF ~ 1.17 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • State Financial Aid: Policies to Enhance Articulation and Transfer
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    Articulation and transfer mechanisms have become important in moving students through postsecondary education, beginning with freshman year and continuing through graduation. This report is an examination of how state policies enhance student articulation and transfer and, ultimately, student success. This study was part of WICHE’s project Changing Direction: Integrating Higher Education Financial Aid and Financing Policy, which examined how to structure financial aid and financing policies and practices in order to maximize participation, access, and success for all students and to promote more informed decision making on financial aid and financing issues in higher education.

    2005 ~ 20pp. ~ Pub #8A25 ~ PDF ~ 1.4 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Tuition and Fees in Higher Education in the West, 2005-2006: Detailed Tuition and Fees Tables
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    Tuition and fees data in this report were provided by state higher education governing and coordinating boards, and in some cases, individual institutions. Averages are reported for the region and for each of the 15 WICHE states. Also included are comparisons of tuition and fees by Carnegie Classification. Tuition is defined as the total dollar amount charged to a full-time student for a full academic year, usually two semesters, three quarters, or two trimesters. Required fees include the institutional fees that a majority of full-time students are required to pay in addition to tuition.

    2005 ~ Pub #2A346D ~ PDF ~ 2 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Linking Tuition and Financial Aid Policy: The Gubernatorial Perspective
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    This survey of governor’s education policy advisors was commissioned as part of Changing Direction and as a companion piece to a previously published survey, Linking Tuition and Financial Aid Policy: The State Legislative Perspective. These two publications collectively are designed to provide insight into the perspectives of key state policymakers, and this survey specifically is intended to contribute to the existing base of knowledge by examining the perceptions of governors and their advisors about critical decisions and their role in higher education financing policy. Exploring their viewpoint will hopefully lead to better, more informed decisions on these important issues.

    2004 ~ 22pp. ~ Pub #2A351 ~ PDF ~ 3.6 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Serving American Indian Students: Participation in Accelerated Learning Opportunities
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    This study is designed to address the disparity in access to and participation in academically challenging courses — although the percentage of students from ethnic minority groups participating in AP has risen in recent years, these groups still remain underrepresented. It examines American Indian student participation in AP programs and other accelerated learning opportunities and develops a context for understanding American Indian student access and participation in several Western states.

    2004 ~ 36pp. ~ Pub #2A349 ~ PDF ~ 346 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Tuition and Fees in Public Higher Education in the West, 2003-2004: Detailed Tuition and Fees Tables
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    Since 1980, WICHE has collected tuition and fees data annually from public four-year and two-year institutions in its 15 member states. The data are provided by staff at system offices or at state higher education governing and coordinating board offices. Each year, the staff are asked to provide current tuition and fees data for resident and nonresident undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in public four-year colleges and universities, and for resident and nonresident students in public two-year colleges. In addition, staff are asked to verify and, if necessary, correct previously reported data.

    The 2003 survey was mailed to state governing and coordinating board staff in June 2003. Staff were asked to provide tuition and fees data for 2003-2004, and to verify and revise, if necessary, the reported data for 2002-03, 1998-99, and 1993-94. All surveys were returned by October 2003. The survey data were reviewed for possible errors, and problems were discussed with the staff in the appropriate office.
    This year's breakdown of institutions by Carnegie Classification used A Classification of Institutions of Higher Education: 2000 Edition (Carnegie Foundation, 2000).

    2004 ~ 71pp. ~ Pub #2A346B ~ PDF ~ 416 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • What is 'Changing Direction'? A Project Overview
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    2004 ~ 6pp. ~ PDF ~ 650 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Are Western States’ Tax Structures Adequate?
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    This report examines tax structures in the Western states – a special concern of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education – and focuses on revenue adequacy and its relationship to other tax policy goals.

    2003 ~ 88pp. ~ Pub #2A349 ~ 1.38 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Integrating Financial Aid and Financing Policies: Case Studies from Five States
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    These case studies of Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Missouri, and Oregon were designed to help equip policymakers and higher education leaders from all sectors more effectively address key public policy issues concerning the structuring of financing and financial aid to achieve goals of access to quality higher education. The overarching question the project hoped to address through the case studies and other project activities was: How can policymakers at all levels – most particularly those at the state level – more effectively integrate tuition, financial aid, and appropriations policies in ways that promote student participation and completion? The results of the states’ work are linked back to the overall goals and objectives of the Changing Direction project in an effort to illustrate how the integration of public policies around financing and financial aid might be approached.

    2003 ~ 42pp. ~ Pub #8A23 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 2.9 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Linking Tuition and Financial Aid Policy: The State Legislative Perspective
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    Realizing the importance of state legislatures in discussions relating to issues on financial aid and financing in higher education, WICHE commissioned the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to create and administer a survey of state legislators to explore linkages between state funding and state student financial aid policy. The survey is part of a major project, Changing Direction: Integrating Higher Education Financial Aid and Financing Policies, supported by Lumina Foundation for Education, that examined how to structure financial aid and financing policies and practices to maximize participation, access, and success for all students. Because state legislators are key players in the education policymaking process, their insights contributed significantly to the overall work of this project.

    2003 ~ 21pp. ~ Pub #8A22 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 1 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Policies in Sync: Appropriations, Financial Aid and Financing for Higher Education
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    This compilation of four papers is Changing Direction’s initial look into a system comprised of integrated financial aid and financing policies and includes: (1) Financing in Sync: Aligning Fiscal Policy with State Objectives; (2) The Governance Context for State Policies on Appropriations, Tuition, and Financial Aid; (3) Informing the Integration of Tuition, Student Financial Aid, and State Appropriations Policies; and (4) Information Sources for Answering Key Financing and Financial Aid Policy Questions: Current Practice and Future Possibilities. Each paper examines a different aspect—a conceptual framework, governance, data as a tool to integrate policy, and what states need to know to design integrated policies—all of which are critical to this alignment.

    2003 ~ 74pp. ~ Pub #8A20 ~ PDF ~ 1.1 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Tuition and Fees Policies in the Nation's Public Community Colleges
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    This report briefly examines the circumstances in which community colleges function; broadly reviews the various types of state-level community college tuition and fees policies, and analyzes how those policies relate to the environment in which they are created, including their relationship to state financial aid policies. Finally, the report discusses several issues for policymakers to watch over the next several years as well as policy implications. States vary significantly in terms of the depth and breadth of community college tuition and fees policies, and as a result, this examination focuses on six key areas: (1) State Philosophies and Tuition and Fees Policies; (2) Authority to Set Tuition and Fees; (3) Tuition and Fee Waivers and Scholarships; (4) Residency Requirements; (5) Reciprocity Agreements; and (6) Fee-Specific Policies.

    2003 ~ 22pp. ~ Pub #8A24 ~ Printed copies available ~ PDF ~ 1.4 MB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Virtual College & University Consortia
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    WCET and the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) jointly sponsored this 2002-2003 study to examine the goals, functions, challenges, and outcomes of statewide virtual universities across the U.S. This is a complete and seminal work on the state of these statewide support organizations, written by Rhonda M. Epper and Myk Garn.

    2003 ~ 67pp. ~ PDF ~ 818 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • The Changing Nature of Accountability
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    This issue of Western Policy Exchanges summarizes a policy forum hosted by WICHE, The Changing Nature of Accountability, held Nov 13-14, 2001, in Broomfield, Colorado. Ninety policymakers from 18 states and the District of Columbia examined complex issues, including evolution of accountability measures in different states, negotiation of accountability structures between legislatures and institutions, ways in which student performance is assessed, and the costs of accountability.

    2002 ~ 6pp. ~ PDF ~ 152 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Tuition and Fees in Public Higher Education in the West : Detailed Tuition and Fees Tables
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    Since 1980, WICHE has collected tuition and fees data annually from public four-year and two-year institutions in its 15 member states. The data are provided by staff at system offices or at state higher education governing and coordinating board offices. Each year, the staff are asked to provide current tuition and fees data for resident and nonresident undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in public four-year colleges and universities, and for resident and nonresident students in public two-year colleges. In addition, staff are asked to verify and, if necessary, correct previously reported data.

    The 2001 survey was mailed to state governing and coordinating board staff in June 2001. Staff were asked to provide tuition and fees data for 2001-2002, and to verify and revise, if necessary, the reported data for 2000-01, 1996-97, and 1991-92. All surveys were returned by October 2001. The survey data were reviewed for possible errors, and problems were discussed with the staff in the appropriate office. This year's breakdown of institutions by Carnegie Classification used A Classification of Institutions of Higher Education: 1994 edition (Carnegie Foundation, 1994).

    2001 ~ 67pp. ~ Pub #2A336A ~ PDF ~ 665 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Policy in Transition: Working Toward Systemic Change in Higher Education in the West
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    With a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for the Western Policy Exchange (WPE) project, WICHE coordinated a public policy decision-making process to examine and shape the public interest in higher education. Policy in Transition summarizes some of the major policy issues confronted by higher education, how the Western states have faced these issues, and what strategies they have used to implement change.

    1999 ~ 21pp. ~ Pub #2A326 ~ PDF ~ 297 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • State Roundtable Case Studies: Idaho and South Dakota
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    The Western Policy Exchange (WPE) project began in 1996, partially funded by a three-year grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, carrying out a coordinated approach of multistate forums in the 15 state WICHE region as well as individual state specific “state roundtables” in a quest to foster partnerships of educators, policymakers, and state decision makers to advance systemic change/reforms in higher education. In an effort to understand the role, dynamics, and perceived consequences of the state roundtable process, WICHE commissioned case studies of Idaho and South Dakota, since they represent some of the comparative differences among the participants.

    1999 ~ 29pp. ~ Pub #2A324 ~ PDF ~ 213 KB~ DOWNLOAD