WICHE Publications : Finance

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Crisis/Opportunity : WICHE 2011 Workplan
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    Even while funding to our colleges and universities has declined, a college degree has retained its value. As a nation, and as individuals, we can’t afford to be poorly educated today. As President Obama said in his state of the union address, “In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education.” The opportunity, then, for the West is one that generations of Americans are familiar with: to do more with less. Dealing with scarcity – whether of institutions or programs or dollars – has been at the heart of WICHE’s mission since the beginning.

    2010 ~ 20pp. ~ PDF ~ 563 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • MIT & EduTools: Peer Comparison of Course/Learning Management Systems, Course Materials Life Cycle, and Related Costs

    Results of a benchmarking study, performed under contract for MIT, provides comparative data from ten peer institutions regarding their use and support of Course/Learning Management Systems.

    2006 ~ 90pp. ~ PDF ~ 444 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

  • Technology Costing Methodology CD-ROM
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    The Technology Costing Methodology (TCM) project, a collaboration between WCET and NCHEMS, is an authoritative tool for analyzing costs of instructional approaches that make heavy use of technology. This CD-ROM includes all of the procedures, spreadsheets, and tools to conduct your own analysis.

    2004 ~ CD ~ LINK

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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