Education Policy, Business and Technology

Study finds connection between alumni legislators and public higher ed funding

Inside Higher Ed: It pays to have friends in high places -- and for public colleges and universities, it pays to have alumni in state legislatures.

A new study from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business found a positive relationship between state funding levels for higher education and the share of legislators who attended the public colleges and universities in their states. In other words, legislatures where more lawmakers have ties to in-state colleges and universities provide more funding to those public institutions.

In fact, every legislator who has attended an in-state public college or university is associated with an additional $3.5 million in funding, according to the study’s authors.

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