ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Th e funding mechanisms that support community colleges grew out of the post-World War II transition of the public junior colleges from relatively low-cost extensions of secondary schools to self-standing institutions within state higher education systems. As Wattenbarger (1994) explained, fi scal support for the colleges, once a low-profi le matter of local negotiation for in-district funds, became a visible part of state budgeting, and “the emphasis changed from local competition for … needed tax resources to the state legislature where resource allocation was focused upon many new concerns: Universities, welfare, state health services, state highways, and prisons” (p. 336). Each state went its own way as policy-makers developed strategies for meeting this new fi scal obligation. Th e result today is an array of state fi scal support structures, most resting on formulas that relate-with varying degrees of complexity-funding to enrollment (Mullin & Honeyman, 2007). During the 2008-2009 fi scal year, the state appropriations derived through these varying approaches to funding constituted 30% of total fi scal support for public community colleges nationwide and were augmented by monies from local, state, and federal contracts (24% of total operating support); local tax appropriations (19% of total support); tuition (17% of total support); and monies from a variety of other sources, including gift s, investment income, and the sales and services of auxiliary enterprises (9% of total support) (Snyder & Dillow, 2011, pp. 513-514).
