Investigating Campus Responses to Outcomes-Based Funding in Tennessee

• In Event: 26.044 - Performance-Based Funding and State Investment in Higher Education

Abstract

The national higher education landscape has recently converged around a completion policy agenda, incentivizing institutions to improve the efficiency with which they educate and graduate students. This comparative case study investigates campus responses to Tennessee’s 2010 Complete College Tennessee Act and the resulting outcomes-based funding formula that jettisoned the decades-old enrollment-based funding methodology. Findings reveal alignment between state and campus priorities, suggesting that institutions “focus where [they’re] funded.” Institutions agree that focusing on student success “is the right thing to do,” although many expressed concerns with formula equity. Findings overwhelmingly indicate that “distinct regional differences” in economic and demographic characteristics shaped institutional responses. Moreover, the formula may result in unintended consequences that dilute quality and restrict access for underrepresented students.

Authors

• Erik C. Ness, University of Georgia

• Mary Milan Deupree, University of Georgia

• Denisa Gandara, University of Georgia - Athens