State Policies and Private Higher Education in the USA: Understanding the Variation in Comparative Perspective

Abstract Private higher education has a long, proud history in the USA that is of considerable interest globally. As the United States is a federal state where higher education is a state responsibility, it is of interest to examine public policies toward private higher education across the 50 states (which vary widely) comparatively, both for understanding (policy science) and for the sake of illuminating policy choices (policy analysis). This article lays out the relevant state policies, i.e. aid accessible to private students, direct subventions to institutions, involvement in state planning, etc., and offers a basic conceptual framework for understanding how they may cluster into more or less coherent policy postures, called here laissez-faire, central planning and market competitive postures (plus two hybrids). Further, it points to evidence that such postures can be identified empirically and suggests how the framework can be used to illuminate more and less feasible policy regime shifts as state goals evolve. Ideas are also advanced for incorporating the evolution of state policies toward the burgeoning for-profit sector into the framework. Suggestions are offered throughout regarding the applicability of the ideas to non-US settings.