During recent years, a market-driven orientation has characterized several public sector, and higher education, reform initiatives nationwide. In May 2004, Colorado became the first state in the nation to enact a system of college vouchers. Despite the significant scholarly research spurred by higher education reform, an important gap exists in the research that examines its political context in terms of the policy process. This thesis presents a case study of the policy process that led to this policy change, seeking to examine the extent to which existing policy process theories help explain higher education reform. Through 26 interviews, as well as media and archival analysis, this dissertation focuses on the stages of policy initiation, formulation, estimation and adoption, and employs an interpretive approach, with a dual emphasis on understanding and explanation.

The college voucher proposal emerged as a solution in search of a problem shortly after the 1998 elections, when Republicans gained control of both the Governor's office and the State Legislature for the first time since 1974. Following the change in administration, the policy entrepreneur engaged in doctrinal coupling. A small, highly integrated network allowed for the rapid gestation of an old idea through a convergent evolutionary process of policy development. A second exogenous shock—the economic downturn in 2002 and the dramatic cuts to state funding for higher education, combined with the effects of Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR)—opened a second policy window in the problems stream that enabled consequential coupling and the emergence of the enterprise status solution, favored by higher education institutions, which had developed incrementally within the policy subsystem. The amended version offered the possibility of tuition increases above the TABOR-allowed caps and also included modified voucher eligibility for private institutions, which enhanced its political benefits and ideological appeal. The lineup of coalitions shifted, due to organizational welfare concerns and the proponents' successful framing.

This thesis generates amendments for the future consideration of scholars and demonstrates that policy process theories can shed light on the complexities that have been overlooked in the existing literature and contribute to our understanding of educational policymaking.