Decreased State Appropriations and their Impact on Texas Public Four-Year Higher Education Institutions Tuition Rates through Deregulated Tuition

Brook Redmon Dickison

doi:10.46303/repam.02.01.4

Abstract

The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationships between state appropriation decreases and the deregulated tuition cost increases in Texas public four-year higher education institutions. State appropriation decreases are those decreases in the state’s financial investment in higher education. Deregulated tuition is the tuition rate set by higher education institutions that is not regulated by the Texas Legislature. By studying the decreases in state appropriations and the increases in institution tuition rates, an understanding can take shape of what impact, if any, the disinvestment by state legislatures has caused to the operations of higher education institutions. Findings from this study showed no evidence of a correlation existing between the decrease in state appropriations and the increase of Texas public higher education institution tuition costs, when the analysis reviewed the timeframe from fiscal years 2003 to 2016.

Highlights

American institutions of higher education are affected by downturns in the economy
Findings from this study showed no evidence of a correlation existing between the decrease in state appropriations and the increase of Texas public higher education institution tuition costs, when the analysis reviewed the timeframe from fiscal years 2003 to 2016
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between state appropriation decreases and the deregulated tuition cost increases in Texas public four-year higher education institutions

Summary

Introduction

American institutions of higher education are affected by downturns in the economy. A key change related to the economic environment has been the financial instability of the public university across the United States (U.S.), and a focus in this study, the state of Texas’s funding model for its public universities. The potential loss of financial consistency causes higher education administrators to look for other revenue sources to replace funds they no longer receive from the state, and to obtain funds that they have more direct control over (e.g., tuition rates). With a reliance on alternative revenue generating activities, institutions are not always able to influence or control how much funding may be awarded from other resources, which creates instability and inconsistency in their operations (Megan & Varn, 2017; Mitchell, Leachman, & Masterson, 2016)

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