Document Type
Article
Source Publication Title
Research in Higher Education
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-024-09798-3
Abstract
During economic recessions, state funding for higher education contracts (Delaney & Doyle, 2011; Hovey, 1999; SHEEO, 2022). Despite this reality, public higher education officials need to offer insights and explanations to state legislators about the current status of their institutions and their needs when discussing their budget requests. We use a multiple case-study design, framed by the narrative policy framework, to examine how campus officials in California and Texas justify their budget requests to the state legislature during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on 131 h of transcribed legislative budget meetings and 62 documents, our findings suggest that higher education leaders emphasize the economic functions of higher education and center their ability to successfully manage during these uncertain and difficult times by highlighting improved or stable accountability measures such as enrollment, persistence, graduation, and job placement rates. During these budget requests, there are commonalities between the states regarding the structure, justifications, and narrative strategies used. However, higher education leaders evoked different narrative objects depending on the perceived values, beliefs, and norms of their state legislators.
Disciplines
Higher Education
Publication Date
6-4-2024
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Billings, Meredith S.; Rubin, Paul G.; Gándara, Denisa; and Hammond, Lindsey, "Higher Education Policy Narratives during COVID-19: How are Budget Requests Justified to State Legislatures?" (2024). Open Initiatives Grant Funded Publications. 4.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/utalibraries_openinitiativespubs/4