Pay-for-performance has become a state finance policy du jour for public postsecondary institutions. A total of 35 states currently distribute varying amounts of appropriations to colleges and universities based on outcome measures. This study uses a difference-in-differences quasi-experimental technique to assess the impact of performance-based funding on public 4-year Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). It also includes separate analyses on the older and newer models of performance funding throughout the United States. This study finds little evidence of a significant effect on improvement in baccalaureate degree attainment in public 4-year HBCUs that receive some apportionment of state appropriations through performance-based funding.

To date, there has been little analysis of MSI Title III and V grant-funded programs across all MSI categories. For researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, it is imperative to explore the contributions of MSIs as manifested in Title III and V grant-funded programs. The purpose of this study is to analyze MSI Title III and V programs based on project abstracts. This study is driven by three research questions: How have MSIs used their Title III and V grants? What are the expressed outcomes of MSI grant funding? Using restricted-use data obtained from the U.S. Department of Education, NCES IPEDS, and the Office of Postsecondary Education, this study uses a quantitative content analysis strategy to respond to the research questions in ways that can help stakeholders begin to understand the impact of the federal grant on MSIs.

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More than half of the states in the U.S. fund public colleges and universities, based in part on those institutions meeting performance metrics. Given increasing political and public interest in accountability for public resources, it is likely more states will adopt incentive-based finance policies for postsecondary education. This chapter explores how performance-based funding has affected HBCUs in six states. It situates this analysis in the political context that foments and sustains interest in this finance mechanism. Through descriptive statistical analysis of HBCU achievement on key performance funding measures and interview responses with HBCU and higher education representatives, this chapter offers a more nuanced and comprehensive analysis of the outcomes of performance funding as it is applied to HBCUs.