HCM Strategists

Name: HCM Strategists
Address: 501 Congress Avenue, Ste. 150, Austin, TX, 78701, US
Telephone: +15126179006
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HCM Strategists

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We believe in the transformative power of education to improve social and economic mobility. We believe that sound public policy drives progress.

We work to spread good ideas widely and help them to find a foothold. The result is change that improves our communities and enhances quality of life. Achieving policy change takes a combination of high-level government experience, a network of strong relationships, a keen analytical ability, and the skills to find fresh, creative approaches to addressing issues. When you can enlighten all participants by capturing their attention, finding common ground, and building strong alliances, success is within reach. Our strategy works -

We ALIGN by connecting a problem to a policy to practice. We ADVOCATE by capturing attention and strengthening public will to action. We ADVANCE by pursuing change through finding common ground, proposing specific solutions and forging strong alliances. Check out our blog at http://hcmstrategists.com/blog/

10/22/2026

College affordability remains one of the most significant barriers to postsecondary access and completion. These challenges extend beyond tuition and fees, as students face increasing difficulty affording non-tuition expenses.

While the array of affordability efforts has succeeded in lowering net prices, understanding the true cost of college is complex, and the intricacy of the affordability patchwork—financial benefits, policies, price-setting, and time to degree options—make it difficult for students and families to navigate.

Our recent report, Mapping the College Affordability Landscape: A Typology of State Strategies, outlines the college affordability context for states, defines and describes state affordability strategies, and provides state profiles that characterize each state’s and D.C.’s unique affordability system.

💡Want to learn how your state approaches affordability? Click the link in our bio!

10/20/2026

HCM Strategists is pleased to recognize the publication of Higher Education Finance Research: Policy, Politics, and Practice, a new book co-authored by HCM Strategists Partner Martha Snyder and Christopher M. Mullin, Ph.D., of Lumina Foundation.

The book explores the complex intersection of higher education finance, policy, and practice, offering research and perspectives on the funding decisions that shape colleges, universities, and the students they serve. It serves as both a guide for current higher education practitioners and as a textbook for the next generation of policy leaders.

As policymakers and higher education leaders continue to grapple with questions of affordability, access, and student success, understanding how higher education is financed remains critical to developing effective, sustainable solutions. At HCM Strategists, this work closely aligns with our commitment to advancing policies that improve educational opportunity and ensure higher education delivers meaningful value for students and society.

📹 To mark the book’s publication, Martha and Chris recently participated in a 20-minute conversation highlighting key insights from their work and the broader implications for higher education policy and practice.

Link in bio to watch!

10/15/2026

The college affordability landscape is vastly diverse and nuanced. Each state and D.C. takes different approaches to ensuring postsecondary education is financially accessible to students. HCM’s latest report, Mapping the College Affordability Landscape: A Typology of State Strategies, offers a comprehensive framework for examining how states approach affordability including strategies used by states, how students and institutions are targeted, and patterns that emerge across state affordability systems.

💡 Interested in seeing how your state approaches affordability? Click the link in our bio and find your state to view the state profile.

📕 Read the full report on our website.

09/14/2026

The Mission Differentiation component recognizes that institutions serve different roles within a state’s higher education system and contribute to state priorities in distinct ways.

Within HCM’s Balanced Framework, it allows states to align funding with specific institutional missions, and strategic priorities that may not be fully captured through Core Costs, Enrollment, or Progression & Outcomes measures alone. By providing flexibility within a common funding framework, the Mission Differentiation component allows states to pursue shared goals while recognizing institutional strengths and distinct roles.

What makes it unique? It can be embedded throughout the other components of the Balanced Framework or as its own component to support unique institutional contributions and state priorities while preserving a coherent statewide approach to higher education funding.

📙 Read the Mission Differentiation brief by clicking the link in our bio!

09/11/2026

The Progression & Outcomes component rewards institutions for investing in strategies that improve persistence, credential attainment, and post-completion outcomes that contribute to individual success and statewide
priorities. By aligning funding with student achievement, the component helps ensure state investments recognize
outcomes as well as inputs.

Progression & Outcomes funding acknowledges that student success requires strategic investment in student supports, and encourages institutions to focus on continuous improvement and student outcomes.

Within the Balanced Framework, the Progression & Outcomes component introduces a focus on student achievement and institutional effectiveness, making this component an important complement to the other input-driven parts of the framework.

📘 Read the Progression & Outcomes brief by clicking the link in our bio!

09/10/2026

The Enrollment component recognizes and supports institutions for recruiting and enrolling students. It ensures funding reflects both enrollment numbers and the types of students that institutions serve, helping to align state investments with student demand and institutional activity.

This component encourages institutions to expand access, respond to changes, and provide educational opportunities and supports to students.

Within the Balanced Framework, the Enrollment component provides the foundational resources institutions need to educate the students they enroll and actively serve, using enrollment metrics and weights for student and program type to support equitable outcomes rewarded through the Progression & Outcomes component.

📗Read the Enrollment component brief by clicking the link in our bio!

09/09/2026

The Core Costs component serves as the foundation of the Balanced Framework, ensuring institutions have the resources necessary to maintain operations, support students, and pursue state priorities.

By providing resources necessary to meet basic operating costs, core cost funding helps create a more level playing field for institutions in the Enrollment and Progression & Outcomes components of a funding formula.

This is particularly important for broad-access institutions, rural campuses, and smaller institutions that often have
fewer alternative revenue sources and serve students with greater educational and support needs.

The Core Costs approaches described in the Balanced Framework are grounded in methodologies that reflect institutional needs, cost drivers, and state priorities rather than historical funding levels alone.

Read the Core Costs in the Balanced Framework for State Higher Education Finance brief in our bio!

09/01/2026

Building on our Balanced Framework for State Higher Education Funding series, HCM Strategists has released four new policy briefs that take a closer look at each of the framework’s essential components: Core Costs, Enrollment, Progression & Outcomes, and Mission Differentiation.

Designed as practical resources for policymakers, each brief explores what its component captures, why it matters to state funding policy, and the key questions policymakers should consider in applying it. Together, the four briefs illustrate how these components work in concert to support a strategic approach to higher education funding.

📖 Read each brief here by clicking the link in our bio.

07/14/2026

Rounding out the Financing Futures series with Episode 8—The Road Ahead: Postsecondary Transformation that Delivers Real Value.

💰 Michelle Asha Cooper from Lumina Foundation details the future of higher education finance and what we should monitor to ensure students are not only completing postsecondary education, but leaving their institutions with credentials that provide employment and economic stability.

This is a must-watch for anyone working in higher education policy, state postsecondary funding, college finance reform, or student outcomes strategy.

Episode 8 concludes Financing Futures, a groundbreaking video series on the evolution of state postsecondary funding, brought to you by HCM Strategists and EdTrust EdTrust . Watch this episode and the entire series by clicking the link in our bio!

07/07/2026

Check out Episode 7 of the Financing Futures series—2023: Setting a New Standard for Student Success and Economic Growth in Texas.

💰 In 2023, Texas passed House Bill 8 which transformed the way the state thought about funding. Instead of incentivizing enrollment, HB 8 allows institutions to be rewarded not just for attendance, but for student outcomes.

This is a must-watch for anyone working in higher education policy, state postsecondary funding, college finance reform, or student outcomes strategy.

Thank you, Ray Martinez from the Texas Association of Community Colleges for narrating this episode!

🎥 Financing Futures is a groundbreaking video series on the evolution of state postsecondary funding, brought to you by HCM Strategists and EdTrust EdTrust . Watch the series by clicking the link in our bio!

Address

501 Congress Avenue, Ste. 150
Austin, TX
78701

Telephone

+15126179006

Website

http://hcmstrategists.com/

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