Amy Li

Dr. Amy Li’s research is on higher education finance and college affordability, specifically promise/free-college programs, performance-based funding policies, state funding for higher education, financial aid and student loan debt, and policy adoption and implementation. She studies the impact of local and state policies on college entry and completion and is particularly interested in outcomes for historically underprivileged students. She teaches courses such as Higher Education Finance, Higher Education and Public Policy, Foundations of Academic Advising, and Organizations and Administration. Dr. Li earned her Ph.D. from the University of Washington. Her work has been funded by the American Educational Research Association, the AccessLex Institute and Association for Institutional Research, the Kresge Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Strada Education Foundation. She was the 2017 recipient of honorable mention for the dissertation of the year award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education. Li’s previous professional experience has been in study abroad and in private sector finance. Her research and/or commentary has been covered by outlets such as NPR Marketplace, the Lumina Foundation, the Hechinger Report, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, WalletHub, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed.

Publications

Journal Articles, Chapters, Policy Briefs, and Public-Facing Works

Li, A.Y., & 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. http://doi.org/10.1177/08959048241287410  *graduate student

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. http://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2024.2301914  *graduate student

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-C79. http://doi.org/10.33009/fsop_jpss133359 *graduate student

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-C23. http://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-C134). American Educational Research Association. http://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-C909. http://doi.org/10.1177/08959048211058439 

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. http://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. http://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. http://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. http://www.freecollegehandbook.com/8-how-do-promise-programs-benefit-students-and-which-ones-borrowing

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. http://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. https://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-C64). Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43030-6_8-1

Li, A.Y., & Gándara, D. (2021, February 4). These are the students free community college programs help the most. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/these-are-the-students-free-community-college-programs-help-the-most-148972 

Gándara, D., & Li, A.Y. (2020, December). Free college tuition programs dramatically increase Black and Hispanic enrollment. Campaign for Free College Tuition. http://www.freecollegenow.org/freecollegeequity_dec2020 

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. http://www.aera.net/Publications/-Online-Store/Books-Publications/BKctl/ViewDetails/SKU/AERWIRBKP

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. (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. http://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-higher-education/book245423 

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-C991. http://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. http://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://doi.org/10.1177/016146811912100803

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. (2018). Lessons learned:A case study of performance funding in higher education. Third Way. http://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). http://education.wisc.edu/news/wiscape-policy-brief-highlights-impact-of-performance-funding-at-community-colleges/ 

*graduate student

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

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

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

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

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. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-137-45617-5_25 

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