Our newest policy brief outlines a framework that provides nonpartisan principles and guiding questions to help states make thoughtful, student-centered funding decisions in an uncertain and challenging environment. Designed for policymakers as well as institutions and advocates, it can be used to assess current budget proposals and, over time, support more sustainable investments and a stronger vision for higher education finance.

Introducing the Balanced Framework, a signature contribution to HCM’s higher education finance policy work and the first in a new paper series on state funding reform. The framework is designed to help state leaders rethink how higher education is funded—and valued.

HCM’s latest case study, Building Sustainable Institutions Through Collaboration, examines how New Mexico’s community colleges came together to create CHESS, a first-of-its-kind shared-services model that modernizes operations while preserving institutional independence.

Our State Policy & Research Director, Stephanie Murphy, provides a 2025 update, our most comprehensive update to date, to HCM’s typology and policy landscape analysis of state investments in short-term credential pathways (originally published in 2023 and updated previously in 2024). Her latest analysis shows that overall state investments now cumulatively total at least $8.1 billion.

In recognition of National Student Month, HCM’s latest brief offers actionable recommendations for policymakers, institutions, advocacy organizations, and state agencies and coordinating boards to strengthen data collection and translate legislation into meaningful, student-centered change.

Incentivizing High-Priority Degrees: The Role of State Funding is the second brief in HCM’s policy series examining pressing issues in state funding formulas and their impact on value, adequacy, and equity.  This series provides frameworks, research, and case studies examining how the role of state funding can advance state priorities and equitable student outcomes while reflecting states’ unique contexts.  

As we close out 2024, our Partner Martha Snyder and Director Jessica Collis argue that it’s time for a transformation of our higher education system that leans into value, affordability, supports, and accountability to restore the public trust. Read their latest Insight blog for more.

Our State Policy & Research Director, Stephanie Murphy, provides a 2024 update of her 2023 typology and policy landscape analysis of state investments in short-term credential pathways. Her latest analysis shows that over the past year, eight states have established 10 new initiatives. Overall state investments now total $5.6 billion.

Our latest postsecondary finance brief, Beyond Sticker Prices: How States Can Make Postsecondary Education More Affordable, analyzes financial aid programs and affordability-related data in nine states. This analysis, which looked across regions, populations and various financial aid models, illustrates the significant variation in affordability across states, institutions and income brackets.

A policy playbook to demand excellence for Black learners.

In her latest blog, our director of state policy and research examines the latest state legislation for funding of short-term credential pathways.

College affordability is an issue that weighs heavily on many people’s minds. And it should. There was a recent story about a public official who was concerned about college affordability. He said he could relate to students who struggle to pay for college because less than 10 years after leaving graduate school, he was still paying off debt for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. From Harvard.