Inside Higher Ed reported on a new Third Way report authored by UW–Madison’s Nick Hillman in an article headlined, “Report: Rich Colleges Keep Getting Richer.”
Hillman is an associate professor with the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and the director of the Student Success through Applied Research (SSTAR) lab.
Hillman’s report, which is titled “Why Rich Colleges Get Richer & Poor Colleges Get Poorer: The Case for Equity-Based Funding in Higher Education,” argues that the allocation of state and federal funds to different types of institutions is inequitable, thus driving further inequities for students.
Hillman found that broad-access institutions, which admit 80 to 100 percent of applicants, spend a little less than $15,000 on academic basics for each full-time-equivalent student, while highly selective institutions, which admit less than 40 percent of applicants, spend just over $52,000 per student.
This matters because the more selective an institution is, the fewer students it serves. In addition, selective institutions serve fewer low-income students and students of color.
“Some may read (the report) and say, ‘Big deal. Some colleges have different missions than others,’” Hillman told Inside Higher Ed. “I would disagree with that. We’re measuring the cost of core instructional activity and administrative costs to support students.”
Homing in on these data reveal structural inequities in how well different types of institutions are able to serve their students at the most basic level, he added.
“In higher education finance, we don’t talk about equity-based funding or adequacy-based funding, yet these are very well-trod areas in K-12 education finance,” Hillman said. “We need to talk about it more in higher education.”
Learn more about Hillman’s report by reading the full article at insidehighered.com, here.
