Higher Ed Policy
July 23, 2019
2019 Higher Education Trends
As the higher education landscape continues to change and evolve in the United States, below are some select national and state trends driving higher education policy and innovation in recent years. The Office of Planning & Budgeting (OPB) continues to monitor these, and other, trends. This list was curated using multiple sources, including recent news…
January 31, 2019
OPB Brief on Published Price vs. Net Price – 2019 update
The 2019 update of the Published Price vs. Net Price brief is now available on our briefs page, and reflects the newest available data. The brief includes sector-wide data on trends in published price and net price for public and private four-year colleges and institutions, a description of how declining state investment in higher education has spurred…
January 17, 2018
New OPB Briefs: Published Price vs. Net Price, Differential Tuition, and Activity Based Budgeting
OPB has released two new briefs. The Published Price vs. Net Price brief is an updated version of a brief we posted in June, reflecting the newest available data. The brief includes sector-wide data on trends in published price and net price for public and private four-year colleges and institutions, a description of how declining…
June 7, 2017
Two New OPB Briefs: Resident Undergraduate Tuition Trends and Net Price
OPB has released two new briefs. The first brief focuses on trends in Resident Undergraduate (RUG) tuition rates and state funding environments across the United States, based on the most recent “Trends in College Pricing” report, which is released by the College Board each year. The report identifies Washington as the only state to have…
March 17, 2017
New OPB Brief on Cohort-Based Tuition Models
A new brief from the Office of Planning & Budgeting provides an overview of cohort-based tuition models (also referred to as guaranteed tuition, tuition lock or fixed-rate tuition models), which is a form of tuition policy in which a cohort of matriculating students pays a fixed rate of tuition for some specified period of time….
June 24, 2016
Update: Supreme Court Decision on Fisher v. University of Texas
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld University of Texas at Austin’s race-conscious admissions policy in its second consideration of a Fisher v. University of Texas appeal. As a reminder, the case stemmed from a lawsuit by Abigail Fisher, a white applicant to UT Austin who claimed she was unfairly rejected due to the university’s…
May 19, 2016
OPB Briefs: Higher Education Trends
OPB has posted a report on higher education trends from the past year to the Briefs tab of our website. Based on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Trends Report, the brief summarizes the ten trends outlined by The Chronicle and highlights relevant examples from Washington state. The brief also outlines a selection of additional higher…
April 25, 2016
New Report Examines Challenges Facing Public Research Universities in 21st Century
The Lincoln Project, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ study of public research universities (PRUs), has recently come out with its fifth and final report, which examines the challenges facing PRUs and recommends strategies for addressing them. The recommendations are threefold: Address Financial Challenges: The sharp reduction in state funding for PRUs—down 30 percent…
April 8, 2016
Updated OPB Brief on Published Price vs. Net Price
The rising costs of college are a popular subject for everyone from presidential candidates to media outlets. Parents and students blanche as published tuition prices climb ever higher. But the published price – often referred to as the “sticker price” for colleges – offers a misleading picture of the cost of higher education. OPB has updated…
March 22, 2016
New OPB Brief on Income Share Agreements (ISAs)
Over the past few months, income share agreements (ISAs) have received significant attention from political candidates, higher education advocates, and news sources. A new OPB brief takes a closer look at ISAs by: Exploring differences between and the history of privately funded ISAs and publicly funded ISAs (such as Pay It Forward). Comparing ISAs to federal…
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