Most students in higher education attend public institutions, and those institutions are governed by public boards. This paper finds that 87% of undergraduates in four-year public colleges and universities attend schools whose boards are controlled by their state governors.
This fact differentiates American public higher education from American public K–12 education, where nearly all students are in schools governed by locally elected boards (instead of the governor or some other state authority). This also differentiates public higher-education institutions from private higher-education institutions, which have private boards insulated from external pressure. For reform-minded public policy professionals, therefore, state governors are the crucial entry point for improving higher education in the United States.
Since governing boards hire and fire college presidents and set the most important campus policies, U.S. governors could dramatically reform public higher education through their appointment power alone. Nearly two-thirds of the nation’s public-college students are in states won by Donald Trump in 2024, so winning governors’ races could transform higher education.
This paper maps out the primary governing entity for college boards in every state in the U.S. and offers suggestions for transforming public boards.