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August 11, 2025
Beware Graduate Programs Masquerading as “Professional” to Increase Student Debt
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) included long-overdue limits on federal loans to graduate students. While graduate loans have been effectively unlimited, going forward, most students will be capped at borrowing up to $20,500 per year, or $100,000 in aggregate. This policy change should hold down student debt burdens—and make it harder for graduate…
July 23, 2025
Over 1,000 Colleges Could Lose Access to Federal Student Aid
Students are not the only ones who enjoyed a reprieve during the nearly five-year pause on federal student loan payments. Colleges also got a break from a rule that bars them from the federal student aid system if their former students’ loan default rates are too high. Now that student loan payments have resumed, however,…
July 2, 2025
Congress Could Rein In Graduate Student Loans
Congress is on the verge of eliminating Grad PLUS—the program which extends effectively unlimited taxpayer-funded loans to graduate students—and imposing caps on graduate loans for the first time since 2006. On Tuesday, the Senate passed a budget reconciliation bill ending the program, which has fueled tuition hikes, exploded student debt, and padded the budgets of wealthy universities….
June 20, 2025
Senate Embraces “Do No Harm” for Higher Education
The Hippocratic Oath is coming for higher education. Last week, Senate Republicans released a package of higher education reforms that includes a “do no harm” standard for colleges: Degree programs would be ineligible for federal student loans if their former students’ earnings are too low. If enacted, the proposal would improve on the status quo, as the…
June 12, 2025
The Senate’s Higher Education Reforms Are Strong (But Could Be Stronger)
Senate Republicans recently unveiled their suite of higher education reform proposals, part of a broader tax-and-spending bill making its way through Congress. The package is strong: it would impose commonsense limits on federal student loans and create a saner loan repayment system. However, it forgoes obvious changes that would save taxpayers more money and would better hold…
May 29, 2025
AI Has Invaded the Classroom—Here’s How We Catch Up
Artificial intelligence has quietly entered the nation’s classrooms. Teachers and administrators are scrambling to catch up. On April 23, the White House announced the Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth Executive Order, creating a federal taskforce chaired by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Education, and other agencies. The goal:…
May 12, 2025
To Improve Student Outcomes, Focus On Classroom Practice, Not Policy
Last week, I had the privilege of delivering keynote remarks at Marquette University Law School’s Lubar Center for a conference focused on redirecting K-12 education reform toward classroom teaching. Inspired by my recent Marquette Today piece, the event—hosted in collaboration with the College of Education—brought together educators, researchers, and policymakers to discuss how improving classroom practice…
May 7, 2025
Colleges Must Help Return Student Borrowers to Repayment
The four-year pause on student loan payments has left behind an alarming fallout: Millions of student borrowers, having disengaged from the student loan system, are not making payments on their debts. Now, the Education Department is asking for help from colleges to get borrowers paying their loans again. On Monday, the Department issued a Dear Colleague Letter to…
April 28, 2025
House Republicans’ Proposed Repayment Plan Fixes Vexing Student Loan Problem
Congressional Republicans are undertaking a massive budget reconciliation effort involving significant reforms to the federal student loan system. House Republicans introduced their proposal on Monday, which would sweep away the maze of nearly a dozen different loan repayment plans and create just two: a standard repayment plan and an entirely new income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. In addition…
April 17, 2025
Turn Public Service Loan Forgiveness into a State Block Grant
As Congress negotiates a bill to overhaul the federal budget, lawmakers looking to save money should note $30 billion in potential savings hiding in plain sight. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which fully discharges the student loans of borrowers who work for the government or a nonprofit for 10 years, is one of…