Amy Li

Research Areas

• Higher education
• Higher education finance
• State policy
• College affordability
• Financial aid
• Policy adoption
• Policy evaluation

Education

• Ph.D., Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Washington
• M.Ed., Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Utah
• B.S., Economics, Psychology, University of Utah

Publications

Articles and Chapters

Li, A., & Hu, X. (2025). Goodbye performance-based funding: Policy abandonment of performance funding for higher education in the United States. Research in Higher Education, 66(8). http://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-024-09828-0

Li, A.Y., Billings, M., Gándara, D., & Hu, X. (2025). Promise programs and the allocation of institutional expenditures at community colleges. Community College Review, 53(1). http://doi.org/10.1177/00915521241300150

Li, A.Y., & Liu, Y. (2024 online first). Need-based promise programs, performance funding bonuses, and the enrollment of low-income students. Educational Policy. https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048241287410

Li, A.Y., & Katri, P. (2024). Does tuition-setting authority determine whether tuition increases at community colleges with new promise programs? The Journal of Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2024.2301914

Li, A.Y., & Katri, P. (2023). Promise program effects at a large, urban institution: A study of Miami Dade College’s American Dream Scholarship. Journal of Postsecondary Student Success, 3(1), 60–79. https://doi.org/10.33009/fsop_jpss133359

Billings, M. S., Li, A.Y., Gándara, D., Acevedo, R., Cervantes, D., & Turcios‐Villalta, J. (2023). Financing promise programs: Where the money comes from and where the money goes. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2023(203), 9–23. https://doi.org/10.1002/cc.20583

Li, A.Y., Laderman, S.A., Weeden, D.D., & Tandberg, D.A. (2023). Reducing uncertainty: Do state finance policies protect against volatility in higher education funding? In J. Delaney (Ed.), Volatility in state spending for higher education (pp. 105–134). American Educational Research Association. https://www.aera.net/Publications/Volatility-in-State-Spending-for-Higher-Education

Li, A.Y., & Kelchen, R. (2023). Policy diffusion of performance funding equity metrics: Traditional neighbor and dyadic survival analyses. Educational Policy, 37(4), 875–909. https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048211058439

Billings, M., Gándara, D., & Li, A.Y. (2021). Tuition-free promise programs: Implications and lessons learned. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2021(196), 81-95. https://doi.org/10.1002/cc.20485

Li, A.Y., & Kelchen, R. (2021). Institutional and state-level factors related to paying back student loan debt among public, private, and for-profit colleges. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 50(2), 1-19. http://ir.library.louisville.edu/jsfa/vol50/iss2/2/

Li, A.Y. (2021). Four decades of performance funding and counting. In L. W. Perna (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. 36, pp. 1–64). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43030-6_8-1

Li, A.Y. (2020). Dollars and sense: Student price sensitivity to law school tuition. Journal of Law, Business, and Ethics, 26(Winter), 47-70.

Gándara, D., & Li, A.Y. (2020). Promise for whom? “Free-college” programs and enrollments by race and gender classifications at public, 2-year colleges. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 42(4), 603-627. http://doi.org/10.3102/0162373720962472

Li, A.Y., & Gándara, D. (2020). The promise of “free” tuition and program design features: Impacts on first-time college enrollment. In L.W. Perna & E. J. Smith (Eds.), Improving research-based knowledge of college promise programs (pp. 219-239). American Educational Research Association. https://www.aera.net/Publications/-Online-Store/Books-Publications/BKctl/ViewDetails/SKU/AERWIRBKP

Li, A.Y. (2020). Budgeting processes in higher education institutions. In M. E. David & M. J. Amey (Eds.), The SAGE encyclopedia of higher education (pp. 191-194). SAGE Publications. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-higher-education/book245423

Li, A.Y. (2020). Performance funding policy impacts on STEM degree attainment. Educational Policy, 34(2), 312-349. http://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818755455

Li, A.Y. (2019). The weight of the metric: Performance funding and the retention of historically underserved students. The Journal of Higher Education, 90(6), 965–991. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2019.1602391

Li, A.Y., & Ortagus, J.C. (2019). Raising the stakes: Impacts of the Complete College Tennessee Act on underserved student enrollment and sub-baccalaureate credentials. The Review of Higher Education, 43(1), 295-333. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2019.0097

Li, A.Y., & Zumeta, W. (2019). Helping students or just taking their cuts? How prioritization of state student aid programs responds to downturns in higher education appropriations. Teachers College Record, 121(8), 1-38. http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=22707

Li, A.Y., Gándara D., & Assalone, A. (2018). Equity or disparity: Do performance funding policies disadvantage 2-year minority-serving institutions? Community College Review, 46(3), 288-315. http://doi.org/10.1177/0091552118778776

Li, A.Y., & Kennedy, A.I. (2018). Performance funding policy effects on community college outcomes: Are short-term certificates on the rise? Community College Review, 46(1), 3-39. http://doi.org/10.1177/0091552117743790

Li, A.Y. (2017). Covet thy neighbor or “reverse policy diffusion”? State adoption of performance funding 2.0. Research in Higher Education, 58(7), 746-771. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-016-9444-9

Kelchen, R., & Li, A.Y. (2017). Institutional accountability: A comparison of the predictors of student loan repayment and default rates. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 671(1), 202-223. http://doi.org/10.1177/0002716217701681

Li. A.Y. (2017). Dramatic declines in higher education appropriations: State conditions for budget punctuations. Research in Higher Education, 58(4), 395-429. http://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11162-016-9432-0

Li. A.Y. (2017). The point of the point: Washington’s Student Achievement Initiative through the looking glass of a community college. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 41(3), 183-202. http://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2016.1179601

Li, A.Y., & Zumeta, W. (2015). State support for higher education. In J. Huisman, H. de Boer, D. Dill, & M. Souto-Otero (Eds.), The Palgrave international handbook of higher education policy and governance (pp. 463-482). Palgrave/Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-137-45617-5_25

Policy Briefs, Technical Reports, and Other Works

Lowry, D., & Li, A.Y. (2022). How do college promise programs benefit students? Messaging. In Miller-Adams, M. & Iriti, J. (Eds.), The free college handbook (Ch. 5). The Upjohn Institute. https://www.freecollegehandbook.com/5-how-do-promise-programs-benefit-students-messaging

Lowry, D., & Li, A.Y. (2022). How do college promise programs benefit students? Student support. In Miller-Adams, M. & Iriti, J. (Eds.), The free college handbook (Ch. 6). The Upjohn Institute. https://www.freecollegehandbook.com/6-how-do-promise-programs-benefit-students-support

Li, A.Y., & Lowry, D. (2022). How do college promise programs benefit students? Postsecondary attainment. In Miller-Adams, M. & Iriti, J. (Eds.), The free college handbook (Ch. 7). The Upjohn Institute. https://www.freecollegehandbook.com/7-how-do-promise-programs-benefit-students-postsecondary-attainment

Lowry, D., & Li, A.Y. (2022). How do college promise programs benefit students? Borrowing. In Miller-Adams, M. & Iriti, J. (Eds.), The free college handbook (Ch. 8). The Upjohn Institute. https://www.freecollegehandbook.com

Li, A.Y., & Mishory, J. (2018). Financing institutions in the free college debate. The Century Foundation. https://tcf.org/content/report/financing-institutions-free-college-debate/

Li, A.Y. (2018). Lessons learned: A case study of performance funding in higher education. Third Way. https://www.thirdway.org/report/lessons-learned-a-case-study-of-performance-funding-in-higher-education

Li, A.Y., Kennedy, A.I., & *Sebastian, M.L. (2018). Policy design matters: The impact of performance funding policies on community college credential completions (WISCAPE Policy Brief). University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE). https://education.wisc.edu/news/wiscape-policy-brief-highlights-impact-of-performance-funding-at-community-colleges/
*graduate student

Zumeta, W., & Li, A.Y. (2016). Assessing the underpinnings of performance funding 2.0: Will this dog hunt? TIAA Institute. https://www.tiaainstitute.org/publication/assessing-underpinnings-performance-funding

Li, A.Y., & Zumeta, W. (2016). Performance funding on the ground: Campus responses and perspectives in two states. TIAA Institute. https://www.tiaainstitute.org/publication/performance-funding-ground-campus-responses

Li, A.Y. (2014). Performance funding in the states: An increasingly ubiquitous public policy for higher education. Higher Education in Review, 11 (Online). https://sites.psu.edu/higheredinreview/2014/02/14/performance-funding-in-the-states-an-increasingly-ubiquitous-public-policy-for-higher-education/