Selected Publications

Books

The Attainment Agenda

Although the federal government invests substantial resources into student financial aid, states have the primary responsibility for policies that raise overall higher educational attainment and improve equity across groups. The importance of understanding how states may accomplish these goals has never been greater, as educational attainment is increasingly required for economic and social well-being of individuals and society.

Drawing on data collected from case studies of the relationship between public policy and higher education performance in five states―Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Texas, and Washington―The Attainment Agenda offers a framework for understanding how state public policy can effectively promote educational attainment.

Laura W. Perna and Joni E. Finney argue that there is no silver bullet to improve higher education attainment. Instead, achieving the required levels of attainment demands a comprehensive approach. State leaders must consider how performance in one area (such as degree completion) is connected to performance in other areas (such as preparation or affordability), how particular policies interact to produce expected and unexpected outcomes, and how policy approaches must be adapted to reflect their particular context. The authors call for greater attention to the state role in providing policy leadership to advance a cohesive public agenda for higher education and adopting public policies that not only increase the demand for and supply of higher education but also level the playing field for higher educational opportunity.

The insights offered in The Attainment Agenda have important implications for public policymakers, college and university leaders, and educational researchers interested in ensuring sustained higher education attainment.

Financing American Higher Education in the Era of Globalization

This ambitious book grows out of the realization that a convergence of economic, demographic, and political forces in the early twenty-first century requires a fundamental reexamination of the financing of American higher education.

The authors identify and address basic issues and trends that cut across the sectors of higher education, focusing on such questions as how much higher education the country needs for individual opportunity and for economic viability in the future; how responsibility for paying for it is currently allocated; and how financing higher education should be addressed in the future.

Designing State Higher Education Systems for a New Century

The authors explain how various state governance structures influence the way priorities for higher education are established. Based on a study conducted by the California Higher Education Policy Center, now The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, this study examines whether existing state higher education structures are adequate given the economic, social, and technological challenges of the 1990s and the first decades of the 21st century. The study also explored whether these structures are prepared to handle the changing student population as well as what appears to be an unprecedented period of increased demand for higher education in some states. The book contains comparative case studies of higher education systems in seven large and diverse states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Texas.

Public and Private Financing of Higher Education: Shaping Public Policy for the Future

This timely volume identifies major trends in financing higher education during the first half of the 1990s. The editors have collected a series of articles contributed by such prominent individuals in this field as Brian Roherty, David Breneman, and Joni Finney who share their insights and expertise. Part I covers trends in public spending and the implications for change of the transfer of responsibilities from the federal government to the states, examines changes in revenue sources for higher education and the policy implications for such change, and concludes with a perspective on privatization. Part II offers individual case studies about how higher education is financed in five states: California, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, and New York.

Selected Public Policy Reports

At Penn, Finney was the director of the Institute for Research on Education (IRHE) from 2008-2020.  Under the auspices of the Institute, Finney completed a five-state study on how state policies influenced the performance of higher education, resulting in a national report, state reports and, The Attainment Agenda published by Johns Hopkins University Press and co-authored with Laura Perna. Finney also completed a fifty-state study on college affordability resulting in a national report, College Affordability Diagnosis, along with 50 state reports. 

Finney, J. E., Hultquist, K. D., Pattison, S. D., & Snyder, M. J. (June 2020). A generational challenge: State postsecondary education policies to support economic recovery and individual opportunity. HCM Strategists and Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

As governors and other state policymakers turn the corner from managing the COVID-19 health crisis to developing a longer-term blueprint for economic recovery, they face historic unemployment levels as well as underemployment of many state residents. These employment issues have only exacerbated existing inequities, particularly for populations of color and other disadvantaged groups. These challenges, coupled with the extensive social unrest in response to persistent, systemic racial discrimination, have put state and local policymakers under increasing pressure for meaningful reform.

College Opportunity at Risk (national report and 50 state reports)

The College Opportunity Risk Assessment, published in June 2018 is the first state-by-state analytic tool to consider the breadth of the policy landscape that must be navigated to ensure future educational opportunity. All states face risks to college opportunity, but each state faces different types and levels of risk within their diverse economic and social realities. To guide state policymakers in mitigating these risks, we offer individual state risk assessments based on four interrelated risk categories—higher education performance, educational equity, public funding and productivity, and economic policies that influence public revenue and budgeting.

Institute for Research on Higher Education. (2016). College Affordability Diagnosis: National Report. Philadelphia, PA: Institute for Research on Higher Education, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania.

College Affordability Diagnosis is a state-by-state look at the cost of higher education. It is designed to help policymakers and institutional leaders compare what students and families must contribute to pay for college—from the percentage of family income to hours worked while in school—across the range of institutions in any given state.

Finney, Joni E (May 2014). Why the Finance Model for Public Higher Education is Broken and Must be Fixed, Wharton Public Policy Initiative. 

Callan, P., Krist, M., Finney, J.E., Usdan, M., Venezia, A. (2006). Claiming Common Ground: State Policymaking for Improving College Readiness and Success. In McPherson, M. S. &  Schapiro, M. O. (Eds.), College Access: Opportunity or Privilege? (pp. 143-166). The College Board

Callan, P.M. & Finney, J.E. (2005). State-by-State Report Cards: Public Purposes and Accountability for a New Century. In Burke J.C. (Ed.), Achieving Accountability in Higher Education: Balancing Public, Academic, and Market Demands (pp. 198-215). Jossey-Bass

Callan, P.M. & Finney, J.E. (2000). Higher Education’s Changing Contours: The Policy Implications of an Emerging System. In Kohl, K.J. & LaPidus, J.B. (Eds.), Postbaccalaureate Futures: New Markets, Resources, Credentials (pp. 216-230). Rowman & Littlefield

Conklin, K.D. & Finney, J.E. (1999). State Policy Response to the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. In King, J.E. (Ed.), Financing A College Education: How it Works, How It's Changing (pp. 151-164). Rowman & Littlefield

State Policy Reviews

"Faultlines" Shaping Higher Education Policy and Opportunity in California, by Taylor K. Odle and Joni E. Finney. Institute for Research on Higher Education, December 2020

Renewing the Promise: State Policies to Improve Higher Education Performance, by Joni E. Finney, Laura W. Perna and Patrick M. Callan.  Institute for Research on Higher Education, February 2014. 

State policy reviews of Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Texas and Washington can be found in The Attainment Agenda (see books).