ABSTRACT
Minnesota adopted the high-tuition/high-grant market model for the financing of public and private higher education in the early 1980s after a crisis in state funding. While it has often been characterized as a model for other states to follow, there is wide recognition that is difficult for states to maintain the strategy. In 1979, the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board formed a task force to study enrollment and financing policy with funding from the Ford Foundation. In 1981, the task force invited national experts to discuss funding challenges in public postsecondary education and student financial aid. The three types of outcomes influenced by changes in state policies on preparation and higher education finance are high school graduation, college access, and degree completion. In the national discourse, inequalities in academic preparation are often used as an argument for inequality in college access. Access and diversity are closely intertwined policy issues that interact with the distribution of diverse groups within states.
