Policymakers and the public are increasingly concerned about the payoff students and taxpayers receive from government subsidies for postsecondary education. This concern has led advocates and policymakers to call for stronger quality assurance policies for colleges and universities. Past efforts to enact quality assurance policies have focused on…

Recent higher education accountability policies and proposals have often linked programs' or institutions' federal aid access to students' postcompletion earnings. But proposals differ regarding when to measure earnings. Policymakers may want to know how fast earnings typically grow and when in an individual's career earnings growth rates change.…

The Biden administration is pursuing two higher education policies through a series of rulemaking processes that aim to make higher education more affordable and less risky for students. One policy focuses on the system's back end by helping students repay their loans, and the other focuses on the front end by cutting off access to federal aid for…

This brief examines the impact of using a system based on multiple metrics that requires institutions to pass three out of four thresholds for student loan default, student loan repayment, program completion, and postcollege earnings. Currently, a very high loan default rate is the only student outcome that disqualifies institutions from the…

All students deserve to attend programs and institutions that meet high quality standards. But different program goals, investments of time, and eligibility criteria make it difficult to set specific standards that will apply equally well to all types of programs and institutions. This report sets out principles for developing an accountability…

In recent years, concerns have emerged both about declines in entrepreneurial activity, and about increases in the amount students borrow to finance postsecondary education--in the aggregate as well as on average. Because the financial obligations associated with student debt could limit access to credit for individuals seeking to start…