Dominique Baker
Associate Professor University of Delaware
- Newark DE
Expert on the way that education policy affects and shapes the access and success of minoritized students in higher education
Media
Social
Biography
Her research focuses on the way that education policy affects and shapes the access and success of minoritized students in higher education. She primarily investigates student financial aid, admissions policies and policies that influence the creation of an inclusive and equitable campus climate.
Her work has been published in a variety of journals, including the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Researcher, the Journal of Higher Education, and the Journal of College Student Development. Her work and expertise have been highlighted by The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed, among others. Dr. Baker has also testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs’s Subcommittee on Economic Policy on race, racism and student loans.
In recognition of the impact and promise of her scholarly career, she is the 2023 American Educational Research Association Early Career Award winner, a National Academy of Education(NAEd)/Spencer Foundation postdoctoral fellow and past recipient of the Association for Education Finance and Policy’s Early Career Award and the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Excellence in Public Policy Award.
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
The Canvas Hack Confirmed Some Professors’ Fears. It Likely Won’t Change Anything.
The Chronicle of Higher Education online
2026-05-13
Dominique Baker, an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware, was skeptical that Instructure’s agreement with the hackers offered meaningful assurance.
Why Transparency Is the White Whale of College Admissions
The Chronicle of Higher Education online
2026-05-11
“There’s the inherent arbitrariness of decisions when you have so many more applicants than spots,” says Dominique J. Baker, an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware, whose research focuses on equity in admissions.
Faculty cite political climate driving student migration to SEC schools from Northeast
Fox News online
2025-12-06
Dominique J. Baker, an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware, said she "believes the appeal of the SEC flagships aligns with the country’s right turn," the Chronicle reported.
The Plot Against Jim Ryan
Chronicle of Higher Education online
2025-11-14
“People who care about the future of an independent U.S. higher-education system must take seriously the authoritarian aims of the federal government,” said Dominique Baker, an associate professor of education at the University of Delaware.
Harvard Gets a $36 Million BofA Guarantee That Trump Demanded
Bloomberg online
2025-11-14
Article quotes Dominique Baker, associate professor of education. “This is theater,” she said. “There is no financial reason for Harvard to be on this list. It’s about pushing them toward capitulation.”
Gutted NCES Releases First Batch of Higher Ed Data
Inside Higher Ed online
2025-09-25
Dominique J. Baker, an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware, said she’s concerned how the massive cuts to the Education Department’s research arm will affect the quality of IPEDS data moving forward.
Education Department Reallocates MSI Funding to HBCUs, Tribal Colleges
Inside Higher Ed online
2025-09-15
Dominique Baker, associate professor of education and public policy, said the funding for HBCUs and tribal colleges, while necessary, doesn’t lead her to believe the Trump administration has their best interests at heart.
Columbia Deal a ‘Threat’ to Higher Ed, Experts Warn
Inside Higher Ed online
2025-07-25
Dominique Baker, associate professor of education and public policy, said Trump is inciting an “outright attack” on higher education and has no plans of slowing down.
Why UVA President’s Resignation Could Be a ‘Watershed Moment’
Inside Higher Ed online
2025-06-30
Dominique Baker, an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware, cautioned that “nothing is set in stone.”
Zohran Mamdani Proves We Don’t Understand Rich People Who Want More For Others
Huffington Post online
2025-06-27
Mamdani’s family is nowhere near hedge fund billionaires, but in America, “we tend to flatten the nuance around class,” said Dominique J. Baker, associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware. If a person has even some money, we portray them as privileged and wealthy.
Consequences for colleges whose students carry mountains of debt? Republicans say yes
NPR online
2025-06-12
"[It] would not include loan balances that were in default, which is very odd," says Dominique Baker, who studies college access at the University of Delaware.
Trump administration escalates its war with universities like Columbia by threatening student loans and grants. What’s next?
Marketwatch online
2025-06-05
The Department of Education’s pressure campaign on Columbia and Middle States could be the start of an effort to consolidate control of higher education — and a major source of funding — that goes beyond those two institutions, said Dominique Baker, an associate professor of higher education at the University of Delaware.
Trump Wants to dissolve Education Department. Here's how it could impact student loans
Miami Herald online
2025-02-04
A disruption created by a Trump executive order could delay the process of the Department of Education telling colleges if a student qualifies for financial aid, whether that be a grant or a federal loan, Dominique Baker, a public policy and education professor at the University of Delaware, told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article299737154.html#storylink=cpy
A tuition freeze without more state aid could leave Texas universities strapped
Texas Tribune online
2024-11-22
Baker said when budgets are tight, schools usually rely more on adjunct faculty to cover classes rather than hiring full-time faculty because they are cheaper. Usually, she said, tuition freezes don’t keep costs down forever.
What Trump's pledge to close Dept. of Education means for students, GOP-led states
NCPR online
2024-11-14
Dominique Baker, an associate professor at the University of Delaware, said that machinery could include the department's Office of Civil Rights. "When the Department of Education is concerned about a civil rights violation, they can announce that they're going to do an investigation for an institution. They can request documents," she said. "Generally speaking, institutions don't want to get on the bad side of the Department of Education."
US universities are struggling to increase diversity. Are legacy admissions part of the problem?
The Guardian online
2024-10-27
But banning the consideration of legacy status from the admissions process is not a “silver bullet” for increasing diversity at universities, said Dominique Baker, an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware and a former college admissions administrator. “Removing legacy, in and of itself, can be the ethical thing to do, and, on its own, not necessarily change the demographics of who enrolls.”
Alabama State University receives Wall Street firm’s historic endowment assistance
ABC News online
2024-05-17
"Public HBCUs have been denied their rightful funding from the state and the federal government for a significant period of time," Baker said. "And so getting these types of fund managers is not enough when it comes to thinking about the type of funding support that public HBCUs should be receiving," she added.
The university on Trump’s plans for education policy
The Review online
2024-04-23
Dominique Baker, associate professor of education and public policy, considered what a complete abolishment of the DOE and a transition of educational power to the states could mean for the country.
Budget cuts aren’t sparing flagship universities. But they have an edge.
Higher Ed Dive online
2020-12-11
Institutions likely won’t get a sense of how bad their finances will get for another academic year, said Dominique Baker, an education policy professor at Southern Methodist University, in Texas. “A significant chunk” of the cuts are driven by longtime disinvestment in higher ed, she said.
Is college enrollment really plummeting?
Chalkbeat online
2025-11-11
“When I talk to members of the public this has not penetrated at all,” says Dominique Baker, a higher education professor at the University of Delaware.
4 Takeaways From Trump’s First Year in Office
Inside Higher Ed online
2026-01-20
Dominique Baker, an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware, say that reversing what has happened over the last year will take far more than putting Democrats in office.
Who Gets a Guggenheim? This Professor Has an Answer
Inside Higher Ed online
2026-04-17
Education and public policy professor Dominique Baker looked at 30,000 fellowship recipients to determine how influential institutional affiliation is in determining who gets one.
The Canvas Hack Confirmed Some Professors’ Fears. It Likely Won’t Change Anything.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
2026-05-13
Dominique Baker, an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware, was skeptical that Instructure’s agreement with the hackers offered meaningful assurance.
Articles
The Varying Impacts of Merit-Aid Policy Design on Enrollment, Retention, and Graduation at Public Four-Year Colleges and Universities
Educational Policy2026-01-05
This study examines whether and which aspects of statewide merit-aid policies influence students’ enrollment, retention, and completion outcomes at public four-year institutions, before exploring the influence of discontinuing merit aid on student outcomes.
Letters of Recommendation by High School Counselors in Selective College Admissions: Differences by Race and Socioeconomic Status in Letter Length and Topics Discussed
Research in Higher Education2025-07-04
Letters of recommendation from school counselors are required to apply to most selective universities. We use cutting-edge natural language processing techniques to algorithmically analyze a national dataset of over 600,000 student applications and counselor recommendation letters submitted through the Common Application.
Race Below the Fold: The Absence of Race in the News Media’s Coverage of Student Loans
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis2025-04-23
The media discourse on student loans plays a significant role in the way that policy actors conceptualize challenges and potential solutions related to student debt. This study examines language that explicitly indicates race and racism in student loan articles published in eight major newspapers from 2006 to 2021.
Inequality Beyond Standardized Tests: Trends in Extracurricular Activity Reporting in College Applications Across Race and Class
American Educational Research Journal2024-12-13
For years, discussions on inequality in college admissions have addressed standardized tests, but less is known about inequality in nonstandardized components of applications. We analyzed extracurricular activity descriptions in 6,054,104 applications submitted through the Common Application using natural language processing methods.
Racial Category Usage in Education Research: Examining the Publications from AERA Journals
AERA Open2024-11-14
How scholars name different racial groups has powerful salience for understanding what researchers study. We explored how education researchers used racial terminology in recently published high-profile peer-reviewed studies.
Tennessee’s Burden: How Students Apply for State Financial Aid within One Southern State
Research in Higher Education2024-06-29
Administrative burden, or the frictions individuals experience in accessing public programs, has implications for whether and which eligible individuals receive aid. While prior research documents barriers to accessing federal financial aid, less is known about the extent to which state aid programs impose administrative burden, how administrative burden varies across aid programs, or how administrative burden relates to target populations.
Improving Researchers’ Capacity to Address Injustice: An Introduction to the Special Issue
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis2024-04-08
Many education policy researchers have turned to critical policy analysis as a means to better understand and examine injustices in education and beyond. However, such work is still uncommon in educational journals.
The Revenue Implications of Community Colleges’ Reliance on Local Funding
AERA Open2024-06-14
In this study, we leverage national data sources to examine the relationship between community colleges’ level of reliance on local funding and their total institutional revenue, focusing specifically on community colleges educating the largest shares of low-income and racially minoritized students.
A Typology and Landscape of State Funding Formulas for Public Colleges and Universities from 2004 to 2021
The Review of Higher Education2024-03-08
State funding for public higher education institutions is crucial in supporting college access and completion, particularly among students from historically under-represented groups, yet little is known about the mechanisms that states use to allocate funds and how they are affected by financial challenges.
A Latent Class Analysis of Racial Terminology in Education Research: Patterns of Racial Classifications in AERA Journals
Educational Researcher2024-02-19
Education research commonly uses racial terminology but with little understanding of racial classification patterns across the field. In this study, we surface the use of racial terminology using a census of original research published in American Educational Research Association journals between 2009 and 2019.
The Relationships Between State Higher Education Funding Strategies and College Access and Success
Educational Researcher2023-11-27
We compiled the first longitudinal data set with detailed state funding information to examine whether different funding strategies for public higher education correlate with college access and completion, with a focus on outcomes among racially minoritized students.
Research Grants
The effectiveness of state postsecondary funding approaches
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
2025-10-25
Co-PI 2024 – 2026
Test-optional admissions research phase II
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Co-PI 2024 – 2026
Unrestricted Resources and Institutional Change: Evidence from HBCU Philanthropy
Student Experience Research Network (SERN)
Co-PI 2023 – 2024
To borrow a phrase: An investigation of the news media’s role in racialized student loan policy communication
NAEd/Spencer Foundation
PI 2022-2024
The landscape of local funding sources for community colleges
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Co-PI 2022 – 2024
To borrow a phrase: An investigation of the news media’s role in racialized student loan policy communication
Russel Sage Foundation
PI 2022
Test-optional admissions policy equity outcomes
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Co-PI 2021-2023
Excess in Texas: An investigation of the effect of state policies concerning excess credit hours on student success
American Educational Research Association
PI 2020 – 2021
Public two-year institution district service areas and racial segregation
Spencer Foundation
PI 2020 – 2021
Equity and effectiveness of state higher education funding policies
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Co-PI 2020 – 2023
Accomplishments
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Top 40 Women in Higher Education
2024
Early Career Award, American Educational Research Association
2023
Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation
2022-2024
Outstanding Reviewer, American Educational Research Association for Educational Researcher
2022
Donald D. Harrington Fellows Program in the College of Education, University of Texas in Austin
2021-2022
Outstanding Reviewer, American Educational Research Association(AERA)-Educational Researcher
2021
Excellence in Public Policy Higher Education Award, Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Council on Public Policy in Higher Education
2021
Early Career Award, Association for Education Finance & Policy
2021
Outstanding Reviewer, AERA- Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
2019
Education
University of Virginia
B.A.
Psychology
2008
University of Virginia
M.Ed.
Student Affairs Practice in Higher Education
2012
Vanderbilt University
Ph.D.
Leadership and Policy Studies
2016
