Funding public higher education has long been a shared responsibility between state, local, and federal governments and students and their families (Laderman et al., 2023). While state and local governments fund public institutions directly, the federal government primarily funds higher education through portable student aid, including federal…

In August 2022, the U.S Department of Education (ED) announced it would invoke the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) to cancel up to $20,000 of federal student loan debts for borrowers who fell below certain income thresholds. The HEROES Act authorizes the Secretary to "waive or modify" statutory…

This document records testimony from a hearing before the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education that was held to discuss the future of higher education post COVID-19. Member statements were presented by: (1) Honorable Frederica S. Wilson, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Education and Workforce Investment; and (2)…

State governments serve an important quality assurance role by certifying that postsecondary institutions are legitimate entities with the capacity to offer valid credentials to students. In recent years, precipitous and high-profile campus closures, predatory and manipulative student recruitment tactics, rising student loan debt burdens, and…

Student borrowing is a major higher education public policy issue, with students in both England and the United States increasingly relying on loans to finance postsecondary education. Our paper examines prospective higher education students' attitudes towards debt in England and the United States. It exploits a unique dataset which allows us to…

Federal free-college policies are now at the center of the Democratic higher education agenda. Sen. Bernie Sanders helped move the idea into the mainstream during the 2016 presidential campaign, and other lawmakers have since worked to advance the policy in Congress. Joe Biden effectively put free college on the ballot in 2020 when he fully…

On average in OECD countries, private sources account for a significant share of investment in tertiary educational institutions. Private expenditure on tertiary educational institutions increased faster than public expenditure between 2010 and 2016 on average across OECD countries, although this varies from country to country. Participation in…

This First Look publication provides the first results of the 2019-20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20), the most comprehensive national study of student financing of postsecondary education in the United States. This report includes information for about 80,800 undergraduate students and 19,700 graduate students attending 2,200…

This First Look report presents selected findings about student financial aid during the 2019-20 academic year. These findings are based on data from the 2019-20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20). NPSAS:20 is a national study of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled any time between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020, in…

This First Look report presents selected findings about student financial aid during the 2019-20 academic year. This document contains supplemental tables which feature state-level percentages of students receiving aid and average amounts received by undergraduate students. These findings are based on data from the 2019-20 National Postsecondary…

As the price of college continues to rise and students find themselves deeper in debt, Americans are clamoring for ways to reduce their out-of-pocket college costs and debt. Some lawmakers have proposed removing the cost of college tuition as a solution. However, this brief argues three points: (1) U.S. policymakers should be wary of countries…

Nearly 43 million college student borrowers across the United States owe more than $1.56 trillion in outstanding federal student loans. The number of student borrowers in the country has increased by 1.3 million, or 3.1 percent, over the past five years, while the amount of outstanding student debt in the country has increased by a whopping $…

The national commitment to increasing postsecondary educational attainment, combined with growing economic anxiety, has made community colleges the focus of many federal and state policy initiatives. There is good reason for this: by virtue of their nature and reach, community colleges--public institutions of higher education that predominantly…

"International Perspectives in Higher Education" offers a balanced perspective on how different countries approach key policies and what the United States can learn from those programs. Jason D. Delisle and Alex Usher have gathered a diverse group of experts to examine systems across the globe with a focus on the trade-offs between…

Despite the obvious benefits derived from education, governments face difficult trade-offs when balancing the share of public and private contributions to education. Understanding how private expenditure is sourced, through public transfers or through private funds, can make a difference in enabling access to education and provide insights into…