Community college administrators' perceptions of Ohio's performance-funding policy
A number of states have replaced or are in the process of replacing traditional enrollment-based higher-education funding models with those based on performance. In 2015, Ohio legislators approved legislation, allocating more than half of state support for public institutions to a funding formula based on course completion, credit-hour milestones, and degree/certificate completion or transfer (Fain, 2015; Snyder, 2015). This quantitative study examined the perceptions of 1,055 administrators from 22 public community colleges in Ohio of the new performance-funding formula and whether institutional characteristics affected their perceptions. The study was framed by Pfeffer and Salancik's (1978, 2003) theory of resource dependence. Unlike studies that suggest knowledge of performance-funding rarely makes it below the level of senior administrators, this study's findings suggest performance-funding plays a role in widespread institutional behavior change. Results include several implications for higher education practice, including increased institutional awareness of performance, changes in student and instructional services, and clear and timely communication of the new performance-funding program at all levels, among others
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2017
University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, 2017