Performance-Based College Financing Systems Often Die Young, Researchers Say

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Related, A concurrent session at SCUP–44, July 18–22: The Measurable Impact of Vision Statements.

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"Why are we bothering with this," is one thought leader's question in this article:

Of 26 states that have adopted performance-based college financing systems since 1979, 12 have scrapped them, according to one of the papers presented here. Of the remaining 14 states, two others—Colorado and New Mexico—still technically have such systems in place but no longer use them to allocate funds. Two other states—Virginia and Washington—have created and then ditched performance-based financing systems, only to establish new ones down the road, according to the paper, by Kevin J. Dougherty, an associate professor of higher education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, and Rebecca S. Natow, a doctoral student at Columbia.

The panel discussion’s moderator, Patrick M. Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, said performance-based financing has such a troubled history that one might ask, “Why are we bothering with this?”