Panel:
Government Support for Higher Education
(Public and Non-Profit Management and Finance)
Saturday, November 5, 2016: 8:30 AM-10:00 AM
Holmead East (Washington Hilton)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Panel Organizers: Bo Zhao, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Panel Chairs: Kim Rueben, Urban Institute
Discussants: Joshua Hyman, University of Connecticut and Margaret E. Blume-Kohout, Colgate University
This panel examines the changes in U.S. federal and state governments' support for higher education in recent decades and their important implications for student enrollment, research and innovations, as well as the broad economy. The first paper focuses on how recent cuts in state appropriations for public universities affect student enrollment in for-profit colleges vs. public universities. The second paper studies how state appropriations for public research universities affect these schools' R & D and successful patent applications. The third paper zeros in the government funding for the science and engineering facilities at universities. The last paper estimates the multiplier effect of government spending on the overall economy through the government-sponsored 529 student savings plans. These papers help to improve the general understanding of the role of government support for higher education and the underlying mechanism. More importantly, each of these papers draws important policy implications and provides policymakers with helpful policy recommendations.
