The Relationships Between State Higher Education Funding Strategies and College Access and Success.

This article examines how different state funding strategies for public higher education relate to college access and completion, with a focus on racially minoritized students, using the first longitudinal data set detailing state funding mechanisms from 2004 to 2020. It categorizes funding models into traditional (base-adjusted or no formula), incentive (enrollment-based or performance-based funding, PBF), and hybrid models combining these approaches. The study finds no significant relationship between funding mechanisms and student outcomes at 4-year public universities, while hybrid models at community colleges are associated with increased enrollment—particularly among Black, White, and Asian students—but not with higher completion rates. These findings suggest that funding formulas alone, especially incentive-based models, may be insufficient to improve educational attainment or equity without addressing overall funding levels and structural disparities affecting minority-serving institutions.