This is the executive summary for the report, "Graduate Degrees: Risky and Unequal Paths to the Top" which proposes new measures to improve accountability and transparency in graduate education through a regulatory framework for Grad PLUS loan eligibility that includes both an in-field earnings premium test and a debt-to-earnings test.…

The decline in undergraduate enrollment at American colleges and universities, particularly highlighted by a drop of nearly 500,000 students in Fall 2021, continues to reflect broader challenges facing higher education. Factors contributing to this trend include the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic instability, shifting…

Government-backed student loans are not a panacea for educational inequality or social ills. By examining student loans as a means of social control, Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence can provide novel ways to encapsulate debt-response patterns across cultures and geographies. This gentle, invisible violence creeps in via misrecognition, a…

Generally, need-based financial aid improves students' academic outcomes (Nguyen, Kramer & Evans, 2019). However, the largest source of need-based grant aid in the United States, the Federal Pell Grant Program (Pell), has a mixed evaluation record (Bettinger, 2004; Rubin, 2011; Marx & Turner, 2018; Park & Scott-Clayton, 2018;…

In this study I deployed quasi-experimental methods to explore enrollment responses to a unique statewide college promise program for adult students attending college within the two-year public postsecondary education sector in Tennessee. State policymakers implemented Tennessee Reconnect in 2018 to encourage adult students without a college…

There has been widespread concern about widening disparities in parental investments that may be associated with widening gaps in educational attainment. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, this study examines parents' investments and engagement in the college-going…

Advocates of tuition-free four-year public college make the argument for it too easy by asserting that it would be paid for out of taxes on the wealthy. Other uses of the revenues are possible. In this paper, Harry Brighouse and Kailey Mullane establish two criteria for comparing different uses of the revenues: the first criterion is, will the…

Given the skyrocketing costs of higher education, some borrowers -- particularly those with low incomes and those who were scammed by for-profit colleges -- genuinely need assistance. But portraying student loan forgiveness as a working-class issue is highly misleading. In fact, data on student borrowing shows that debt relief benefits few…

In Indiana, higher education and postsecondary degrees are not accessible to all. Indiana is one of eight states with legislation specifically prohibiting offering in-state tuition rates and state financial aid to immigrant students not legally residing in the country. (U.S. 2023). This makes college unaffordable for thousands of undocumented…

Background/Context: Access to education is seen as a critical aspect of personal success, with substantial implications for education systems and social well-being. In this context, the effectiveness of free college tuition is a hot topic in current higher education research (Bell, 2020), as there is no clarity on whether the benefits outweigh the…

College promise programs, or place-based scholarships, are aimed at helping students attend and afford higher education. The American Dream Scholarship (ADS), offered by Miami Dade College (MDC), is a promise program that covers tuition and fees for the first 60 credits of an associate degree for students residing in and graduating from high…

The Bring Bobcats Back program was established at Texas State University in 2018 for students who had "stopped out" to return and finish their degrees. Bring Bobcats Back has expanded thanks to federal and state grant funding born out of the pandemic. Through the U.S. Department of Education's Stabilization Fund Program via the…

Focus groups were conducted to explore prospective students' perceptions of tuition fees, maintenance loans and how these impact their decision to engage with higher education. Views on rebranding of the term 'tuition fees' to 'student/graduate contributions/tax' and the introduction of differential fees for different courses were explored.…

This qualitative interview study examined how parents of potential college-going first-generation students in one high school perceive and experience their access to resources and knowledge that would allow them to support their adolescents' successful entrance into postsecondary institutions. The study found that the parents believe that high…

In "The Path to Free College," Michelle Miller-Adams argues that tuition-free college, if pursued strategically and in alignment with other sectors, can be a powerful agent of change. She makes the case that broadly accessible and affordable higher education is in the public interest, yielding dividends not just for individuals but also…