SHEEO Quarterly Review Tracks State Higher Ed Activity

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association published its Summer 2026 Quarterly Policy Review in September, cataloging state and system-level higher education activity across seven areas. A notable throughline is momentum behind shorter bachelor’s degrees, with the Kansas Board of Regents approving a reduced-credit baccalaureate pilot policy, Massachusetts approving its first three-year applied bachelor’s degrees at Merrimack College and Suffolk University requiring 94-96 credits rather than 120, and Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Virginia all advancing frameworks for 90-credit degree pathways. States also continued reworking how they fund institutions, as Indiana approved a revised outcomes-based formula making credential completion the primary metric, Oklahoma adopted a new performance formula that will eventually reach 25% of institutional base funding, and Mississippi accepted a two-part model combining foundational and performance funding. Other highlights include Pennsylvania’s new PASSHE Pledge covering full tuition and fees for Pell- and state grant-eligible in-state undergraduates starting in fall 2027, New Mexico’s expansion of health professional loan repayment offering physicians up to $300,000 in debt relief, the University of Hawai’i system’s new AI strategy, and Colorado’s Return on Investment report finding the share of graduates leaving with student debt fell to 41% from 57% a decade earlier.