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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…

By Preston Cooper

June 18, 2025

The (Non) Effect of Tariffs on Manufacturing Employment

This paper is a chapter in the volume The Economic Consequences of the Second Trump Administration: A Preliminary Assessment, published by The Center for Economic and Policy Research. Introduction President Trump has stated many goals to justify his trade war. He has argued that tariffs on imports produce leverage that the US can use to reduce…

By Michael R. Strain

June 17, 2025

Work Requirements For Medicaid Could Increase Income and Reduce Poverty

New Congressional Budget Office figures last week indicate that the reconciliation bill passed by the House and under review in the Senate would reduce annual income among the poorest households by $1,600. The next day, the Urban Institute its own analyses, finding that the bill would throw an additional 1.4 million people into poverty. Much of the…

By Scott Winship

June 16, 2025

Better Boys: The Difference Good Dads Make

The girls cleaned up at my (Brad’s) daughter’s middle school graduation in Virginia this month. Three out of four of the school’s top awards went to girls. A majority of the “President’s Academic Excellence Awards,” an award given to students who maintained an “A” average each semester throughout their middle school career, went to girls. This is par for the course….

By Brad Wilcox | Linda Malone-Colon

June 16, 2025

Accountable for Outcomes: We Need Evidence-Based Funding Models 

Key Points  Introduction Amid escalating college costs, mounting student debt, and rising college graduate underemployment, students of all backgrounds increasingly question college as a path to economic mobility. This shift has sparked interest in alternatives to college—from high school career and technical education (CTE) programs to short-term adult training courses proposed for Pell Grant funding…

By Mark Schneider et al

June 16, 2025

The ‘Father Divide’ and What it Means for Our Kids

This Father’s Day, an estimated 72 million greeting cards will zip through the mail, according to Hallmark. Father’s Day ranks a respectable fourth on the list of the highest “card-buying” holidays of the year. But it’s still far behind the next-highest: Mother’s Day.  Dads probably shouldn’t take it personally. People tend to feel more sentimental toward their mothers. But while…

By Brad Wilcox | Maria Baer

June 13, 2025

Good Fathers, Flourishing Kids: The Importance of Fatherhood in Virginia

Children in Virginia are more likely to flourish when their fathers are engaged and/or present. This is one of the conclusions from Good Fathers, Flourishing Kids: The Importance of Fatherhood in Virginia, a new report from an intellectually diverse group of scholars at the University of Virginia, the American Enterprise Institute, the American Institute for Boys and Men,…

By Brad Wilcox | Ian Rowe | Richard Reeves | Nicholas Zill | Gerard Robinson | Linda Malone-Colon

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…

By Preston Cooper

June 12, 2025

Lingering Absence in Public Schools: Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2024

Key Points Introduction It has been over five years since the US shut down for COVID, and in many ways, the country has moved past the pandemic. For US schools, however, the pandemic’s toll has not passed so quickly. Student aca­demic achievement remains depressed, and chronic absenteeism continues to hover substantially above the pre-pandemic baseline….

By Nat Malkus

June 11, 2025

From Engineers to Fast Food, How AI Is Rocking the Future of Jobs

The future is here, and it requires robust AI literacy and support for workers and families. Artificial intelligence development and deployment is accelerating, and so are the ironies. A recent report by Great Learning found that a growing number of Indian engineers — a group deeply involved in creating and deploying AI — are pessimistic about how…

By Brent Orrell