WICHE Publications, Papers, and Reports

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

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

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  Executive Summary

   

The WICHE Interstate Passport Initiative, launched in October 2011, is a pilot project that addresses interstate student transfer. This document provides an overview on the current policies around the lower-division general education core in the WICHE states and presents the general education credits required in each state. 

2012 ~ 5pp. ~ PDF ~ DOWNLOAD

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  A companion piece, General Education Policies in the WICHE states, presents information on two research objectives of the Interstate Passport Initiative: (1) identify the existing policies in the WICHE states related to the general education core, and (2) identify the courses, criteria, or outcomes that compose the general education core in the WICHE states Additionally, information is provided on the authority or oversight body on general education policy in the state.

   

This report covers Fall 2011 enrollments for WUE, WRGP and PSEP and details the funds that flow between students’ home states and enrolling institutions in the Professional Student Exchange Program that receive them.

2012 ~ Pub #01-02-00-5400:PP:1.2M:2A371D ~ 1 MB~ DOWNLOAD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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  See also, Higher Education : A Powerful Trust - WICHE Workplan 2008.

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

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

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

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

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

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  See all publications for the Changing Direction project.

Q and A format, a helpful and informative document highlighting questions about WUE frequently-asked by counselors, educators, and administrators of participating colleges and universities.

2007 ~ 5pp. ~ PDF ~ 35 KB~ DOWNLOAD

Online instructions to help faculty and administrators list their shared courses in the WICHE ICE online catalog.

2006 ~ Printed copies available ~ Web page ~ LINK

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

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  See all publications for the Changing Direction project.

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

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

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

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  See all publications for the Changing Direction project.

The purpose of this special study was to examine rural and low-income students’ experiences with online Advanced Placement (AP)
courses.  In April and May 2002, 30 students, their mentors and school administrators were interviewed at four rural high schools in two Western states about their experiences with online AP courses.

2003 ~ Pub #8A10 ~ PDF ~ DOWNLOAD

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

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

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