State Adoption of Undocumented Student Tuition Policy: An Event History Analysis

Over the past decade, U.S. states have confronted growing populations of undocumented immigrants. In response, a number of states have devised different postsecondary education reforms. One prominent and controversial feature of these reforms is adoption of policy by which undocumented students may become eligible for in-state tuition rates.Between 2001 and 2008, 10 states adopted an undocumented student tuition policy. Using a Cox proportional hazards model, this study explored factors leading to policy adoption, paying particular attention to educational, political, and economic conditions within states and the prior policy actions of geographically proximate states.Findings indicated that both internal and external state conditions influenced the likelihood of adoption of an undocumented student tuition policy. Results demonstrated that states with higher percentages of the total state population enrolled in postsecondary education and larger Hispanic populations were more likely to adopt an undocumented student tuition policy. States with a higher presence of Latino legislative representatives and a higher percentage of previously adopting neighboring states were less likely to adopt the policy.

Author

• Sponsler, Brian Andrew

Language

• en

Keyword

• event history analysis
• policy adoption
• undocumented students
• diffusion

Date created

• 2011

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Higher Education Administration

Degree

• Ed.D.

Advisor

• Rotberg, Iris

Committee Member(s)

• Lawrence, Eric D
• Villarreal III, Pedro

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/wh246s27w