Does Losing Need-Based Financial Aid Cause College Students to Drop Out? An Application of the Regression-Discontinuity Design Will Doyle Will Doyle is associate professor of higher education and public policy coordinator of the Higher Education Leadership Program in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. He holds a doctorate in higher education from Stanford University. Prior to coming to Vanderbilt, he held the position of senior policy analyst at the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Professor Doyle's work investigates the antecedents and outcomes of higher education policy at the state and federal level, and uses theoretical and methodological insights from political science to better understand both higher education politics and policy. His recent work includes an event history analysis of the adoption of merit aid programs in the American states and a study on the political economy of state appropriations to higher education. His ongoing research projects include a study of the adoption of prepaid tuition and savings plans and a study of roll call votes on higher education issues in the United States Senate, as well as a joint study with John Braxton and Michael McLendon on state and institutional policies that can reduced student departure rates. 'The Broken Cost Model' in Higher Education: What that means, what might be done about it Jane Wellman Jane Wellman is an independent policy analyst specializing in public policy and postsecondary education in the United States. She is an expert in state and federal policy for higher education, with particular expertise in changing finances, cost analysis and cost management, institutional governance and change management. She currently directs the work of the Association of Governing Board's National Commission on Higher Education Governance, is a senior regional advisor for the Western States (California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington) for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, and consults with the National Association of System Heads (NASH), an organization focused on the unique challenges and opportunities facing public multicampus systems. She has held numerous leadership positions in higher education in the nonprofit and government sphere, including the executive director of the National Association of System Heads, the founding director of the Delta Cost Project, vice president for Government Relations for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, deputy director for the California Postsecondary Education Commission, and staff director of the California Assembly Ways and Means Committee. She received her Bachelor of Art and Master of Art degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, and resides in the Washington, D.C. area. Watch this Education Policy Seminar How do Universities from Developing Countries Contend with Externalities Informing Transformational Change? Eduardo Ali Dr. Eduardo Ali is programme manager for institutional effectiveness in the Office of the Campus Principal at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine where he coordinates the campus’ quality management system, manages the Service Excellence Framework, coordinates continuous quality improvement and facilitates the campus’ accreditation system. Dr. Ali also facilitates many other regional initiatives as chairman and president of the Caribbean Agency for Higher Education Development, former vice-president of the Caribbean Area Network for Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education and president of the University of Sheffield Caribbean Alumni, Research and Education Network. Dr. Ali discussed challenging issues surrounding higher education and globalization by using the concept of World Class Universities and the emergence of “enterprise universities”. He related this to the policies and strategies of higher education institutional/programme accreditation and their impact on transformational changes within the Caribbean region. Watch this Education Policy Seminar
