The Role of Higher Education and Equitable Funding

Introduction

Author: Karina Santana

Department: UIC Institute for Policy & Civic Engagement

Advisor: Dr. Warren Chapman, UIC- IPC

Abstract: Historically, public education, specifically higher education, relied on budgeting that addressed access, retention, and graduation rates at an institution. Contextually this highlights the inequitable trends occurring over access, resources, and outcomes that conform to institutional logistics rather than individual perspectives. A proposed senate bill called the Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding Act SB 13 has been introduced to mitigate these institutional gaps. Currently there is federal aid which helps broaden access to public higher education, as well as state policy from Illinois such as the Monetary Award Program (MAP), and Retention of Illinois Students and Equity (RISE) to enhance student chances to begin their higher education journeys. Focusing on federal and state implications, and using a case study of the University of Illinois system with its mission of accessibility to higher education at low to no cost for students, this study examines the pathway of social mobility through higher education. This analysis employs a literature review to examine critical perspectives on how higher education policy can build a foundation for a pipeline to higher education. With the socioeconomic divide expanding due to unevenly distributed focus of allocations to institutions rather than individual support that shapes student retention and completion, this study asks how public investment models in higher education support marginalized students in their journey of accessing, retaining, and graduating from higher education. Preliminary analysis suggests that longstanding policy and concurrent amendments in funding formulas, such as Senate bill 13, may contribute to the conceptual social divide in what will be defined as the societal pipeline. These findings contribute to the debate on higher education as an investment for public health and repairment to inequity.

Keywords: Higher Education, Social concept, Opportunity Cost/Lost, Need-Blind, Race-Blind, Flagship University, Regional University, Constrained Choices, Markov Chain, Critical Mass, Eligible Public Institution, Adequacy, Equitability