State Priorities for Higher Education in 2024

Public higher education leaders have entered 2024 aided by tailwinds of fiscal stability in many states and a strong national economy, but some challenges of the post-pandemic era remain, including strengthening the value proposition of higher education, building public trust, and meeting changing economic and workforce needs. This paper presents the top state policy priorities for 2024 based on a survey of members of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) during the first half of November 2023. This paper is not an exhaustive list of state higher education policy issues for 2024 but represents those most likely to affect state higher education communities in the year ahead. College affordability, for example, remains a long-term concern, while other topics, such as enrollment decline, are driven by the current higher education context. Additional information and context for these issues and trends has been provided through scans of state legislative activity, policy reports, and news articles.