PUBLIC POLICY IN THE EXPANSION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF ALABAMA, 1963-1978: A CASE STUDY IN THE POLITICS OF HIGHER EDUCATIO

This case study in the politics of higher education had as its purpose to identify and to analyze the ingredients of public policy which were significant in the remarkable expansion of higher education in the State of Alabama between 1962 and 1978. These sixteen years witnessed a great expansion in the number and types of institutions, in student enrollment, and in the appropriations from public funds to institutions of higher education in Alabama.;The legislation of the period, including appropriations, was analyzed as the primary evidence of the final output of the public policy process. Descriptive and comparative methods appropriate to an historical analysis were utilized. The sources of data were primarily archival and statistical, although a limited number of personal interviews was conducted with persons who had been involved in the policy-making process of the period, including former Governors George Wallace and Albert Brewer.;The study found that five major outputs of the public policy process had contributed to the extraordinary expansion of higher education during the period. These components were identified as: (1) the creation of a system of junior colleges and technical colleges totalling 49 institutions, which not only provided new types of higher education, but also made such education more accessible, both geographically and financially; (2) the creation of four new universities located in the four major urban areas of the state, whereas the previously existing public universities and colleges were located primarily in small towns; (3) considerable revision of the structures of governance and coordination of the institutions of higher education--including the establishment of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education; (4) an enlargement of provisions for medical education in order to provide improved medical services to the citizenry of the state; and (5) the creation of tuition aid grants to students in independent institutions as a way of keeping independent higher education viable.;Four aspects of the policy process were examined for each major component of the public policy for higher education established during the sixteen year period: (1) how the problem, which needed a solution, became identified, and support (or demand) for its solution became generated; (2) what alternative courses of action were available to policy makers; (3) what was contained in the policy formulation arrived at by the political process and legitimatized in the key legislation of the period; and (4) what the major impact has been following the adoption of the policy.;An examination was made of the trends in the appropriations for higher education for the period under study. These trends were compared with the general economic trends, with other expenditures by the State of Alabama, and with similar appropriations in other states of the nation. All of these comparisons indicate that the increase in Alabama's appropriations for higher education during the period exceeded, in amount and rate, all other indicators and almost all other states in the nation.;Certain factors were found to have enabled the political system to be so supportive of higher education during this period. Especially important was the fact that the money was on hand to make the increased appropriations--due to the practice of "ear-marking" tax funds. The taxes designated for education were inflation-sensitive, and the state's economy was healthy and growing. Also, support for the expansion of higher education was reinforced by the earliest policy moves, which gave many more citizens a state in higher education by the creation of new types and locations of educational institutions.