October 2, 2023
Shopping for Colleges Just Got a Little Easier for Some Students
Shopping for college can be a nightmare. As the market for consumer products has gotten easier, more transparent, and faster than ever before (read: Amazon), the market for college degrees has only gotten more and more opaque. The prices listed on college websites aren’t paid by pretty much anyone, and in order to find out…
September 27, 2023
A Conversation with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on the Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act
As the Biden administration continues to push massive and controversial overhauls of America’s federal student loan system, Republican lawmakers have put forward a broader vision for higher education reform. The proposed reforms seek to address the underlying causes of the student debt crisis and target core challenges facing the United States’ higher education system. Join…
September 22, 2023
Repairing the Damage Columbia’s Teachers College Did to American Kids Will Take Years
I’ve come to bury Lucy Calkins, not to praise her. Columbia University’s Teachers College announced this month what once seemed unthinkable: It’s “dissolving” its relationship with Calkins, sending the controversial literacy guru and her cash-cow publishing and consulting empire packing. The divorce came a few months after the New York City Department of Education made the…
September 21, 2023
How Health Policy Laws Are Hurting College Students and Their Families
In the midst of all our discussions about what is causing the youth mental health crisis, it might be worth examining the public policies that are making it worse. One such policy is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or at least colleges’ interpretation of that law. A recent article in The New York Times documented the…
September 21, 2023
How Health Privacy Laws Are Hurting College Students and Their Families
In the midst of all our discussions about what is causing the youth mental health crisis, it might be worth examining the public policies that are making it worse. One such policy is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or at least colleges’ interpretation of that law. A recent article in The New York Times documented the…
September 19, 2023
It’s OK to Like Both Public Schools and School Choice
Education savings accounts. Universal voucher programs. Charter schools. These are words guaranteed to inspire heated debates among policymakers, parents, and educators. Teachers’ union leaders denounce school choice as part of a malicious “war on public education.” School choice advocates rail against “failing government schools.” These debates manifest themselves as morality plays in which one is either for…
September 18, 2023
West Virginia Budget Cuts Are a Taste of Higher Ed’s Future
Gordon Gee thinks higher education is at a “crossroads.” If it takes the wrong turn, it will head over a demographic and financial cliff. To save West Virginia University, of which he is president, in February he announced significant cuts, including the elimination of 169 faculty positions and some 30 academic programs and departments that were…
September 18, 2023
Students’ Lack of Basic Knowledge of US History and Civics Remains a National Embarrassment
A new study from a pair of Penn State researchers finds that passing the US Citizenship Test as a high school graduation requirement does nothing to improve youth voter turnout. Within the last decade more than a third of US states have adopted and implemented a version of the “Civics Education Initiative” (CEI), but according to study…
September 18, 2023
A Degree of Risk
Higher education policy has gone from a niche issue studied by wonks and practitioners to a point of mainstream political concern. I used to wait with bated breath for a national political figure to mention the issue I care so much about, celebrating even a banal reference to maintaining a competitive workforce. I longed for…
September 18, 2023
Biden’s Latest Student-Loan Plan Is Another Disaster
Late last month, President Biden and his Department of Education announced the launch of the “SAVE” Plan, a reform that expands existing income-driven repayment (IDR) programs to the tune of up to $550 billion. Now, it’s been reported that as many as 4 million borrowers have signed up for the plan, many of them enrolled automatically. Last week, Senator Bill…