Placing Student Success at the Center of State Higher Education Finance Policy

What does it take to make it successfully through college? For a growing proportion of the nation’s students—many of whom are racial and ethnic minorities, from low-income families, or the first in their families to enroll in higher education—the answer encompasses far more than affordable tuition and decent grades. As access to higher education has expanded to embrace these historically underrepresented groups, the formula for student success is increasingly understood to include a mix of programs and incentives tailored to their needs. This paper describes the higher education funding models as applied to real-life students, many of whom are racial and ethnic minorities, from low-income families, or the first in their families to enroll in higher education.