NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGE ENROLLMENT SINCE IMPLEMENTING TIERED FUNDING TO PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1 online resource (143 pages) : PDF

2020

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Since the 2008 recession, public higher education in terms of both two- and four-year institutions has been cut by $9 billion in state and local funding (Mitchell, Leachman, & Matterson, 2017). Between 2005 and 2016, state and local appropriations to community colleges have declined, from 59 percent of a college’s total revenue to 54 percent (College Board, 2018). Along with a decrease in revenue from state and local sources, how states are funding college has also changed. In 2011, North Carolina implemented a tiered funding model for community colleges in an attempt to address program cost differentiation; however, in 2014, the funding model changed from a three-tiered model to a four-tiered model with an added focus on economic development. The latest changes provided additional funding for courses that help fill the state’s skills gaps and help program graduates or course completers to earn higher-wage jobs (Program Evaluation Division, 2016). North Carolina’s economic development tiered funding is the only one of its kind even though ten states use tiered funding in some form (Mullin & Honeyman, 2007). This study used the theoretical framework of Resource Dependency Theory to examine how the implementation of tiered funding to promote economic development, or what could be referred to as the creation of Tier 1A, is associated with enrollment behavior at North Carolina community colleges. This study used a causal-comparative research design, which attempted to examine the cause or reason for different behavior by groups (Gay, Mills, & Airasian, 2006). This study examined how a funding policy change in 2014 which provided additional funds for courses that help fill the state’s skills gaps and help program graduates or course completers to earn higher-wage jobs affected enrollment behavior at North Carolina community colleges. The period for the study was since the implementation of the policy in 2014 through fall 2018. To account for possible differences in enrollment patterns this study looked at aggregate enrollment for North Carolina community colleges along with specific institutional grouping categories: Geographical Region, Disciplinary Focus, Dominant Student Type, Undergraduate Classification, Size of Institution, and Degree of Urbanization (Locale). The findings for this study support resource dependency theory and that both the aggregate community college enrollment and 19 out of 20 institutional groups saw decreased enrollment in the lower funded course and increased enrollment in higher funded courses. Also, this study found that both the aggregate and all the institutional groups had a significant chi-square test for independence when comparing the proportion of enrollment by program tier (tiered enrollment profile) over time since the introduction of the 2014 tiered funding policy.

doctoral dissertations

Educational leadership
Education and state
Education--Finance

D.Ed.

Educational Leadership

D'Amico, Mark

Dika, Sandra
Mabe, Alan
Rickelman, Robert

Thesis (D.Ed.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2020.

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). For additional information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/.

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Davis_uncc_0694D_12368