ABSTRACT
Traditionally, the state policy literature on higher education has exhibited a major blind spot: Research has focused nearly exclusively on policy effects, ignoring consideration of the determinants of state policy for higher education. A substantial empirical literature exists on the effects of state policies on students (e.g., impacts of financial aid regimes on college attendance), on campuses (e.g., consequences of state regulation for campus quality), and on society more broadly (e.g., the contribution of higher education to economic development). Yet, scholars have studied factors associated with interstate variation in public policy for higher education far less frequently. Thus, although the current era has witnessed dynamic policy changes for higher education, 1 our understanding of the forces that have led states to reform and adopt new policies remains rudimentary.
