ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how political ideologies have influenced changes in federal policy in institutional funding, court decisions and resulting regulation, funding for research, and federal financial aid. It argues major changes in the dominant public ideologies that shape and influence higher education through the policy process. The chapter focuses on how the new ideologies of accountability, privatization, and markets converge to influence the strategies that states, universities, and colleges use to encourage preparation, promote access through enrollment management, and encourage retention. It examines how some of the grand changes in policy from the founding period to the Civil War, and into the recent global transition and neoliberal period have changed from promoting the common good to promoting economic development. The chapter discusses the federal role in funding institutions, supporting research, and interpreting the Constitution and laws of the nation. The federal courts have had a substantial influence on the evolution of higher education institutions throughout their history.
