Abstract

This article focuses on key developments in American higher education finance since 1980, with particular emphasis on those of the present century. Understood within the longer historical context of American federalism in higher education policy, the article traces sharp changes in patterns of state support in relation to macropolitical and attitudinal shifts that took hold around 1980 and exerted their strongest influence during subsequent periods of economic stagnation. The important role of federal policies and the sometimes-problematic interactions between federal and state policies are also integral to the analysis. The specific impacts and implications for higher education of the «Great Recession» of 2007-2009, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the recent increased political polarization of policymaking in the US are highlighted in the latter sections of the article.