Evidence shows that what students study matters as much as, if not more than, where they study. Program-level measures can provide important data on student outcomes, which will allow policymakers to hold institutions and programs that receive federal funding accountable. This fact sheet highlights some of the most frequently discussed measures…

Rising college prices and student debt, the growth and collapse of online for-profit colleges, and expansions of federal grant, loan, and loan forgiveness policies have increased calls for more accountability in our higher education system. And there is significant consensus among lawmakers that the existing set of quality assurance policies for…

The federal student loan program is needlessly complex, fails to offer an effective safety net for borrowers in financial difficulty, and distributes the largest benefits to borrowers who need them the least. Worse, the safety net designed to support borrowers in financial difficulty, income-based repayment (IBR), has failed to meaningfully reduce…

"Student Debt and the Class of 2018" is the fourteenth annual report produced by The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) on the student loan debt of recent graduates from four-year colleges, documenting the changes in student loan debt and variation among states as well as colleges. This report includes federal policy…

"Student Debt and the Class of 2019" is The Institute for College Access & Success' (TICAS') fifteenth annual report on the student loan debt of recent graduates from four-year colleges, documenting changes and variation in student debt across states and colleges. This report includes federal policy recommendations to reduce debt…

The Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA; P.L. 89-329, as amended) authorizes programs and activities to provide support to individuals who are pursuing a postsecondary education and to institutions of higher education (IHEs). During the 116th Congress, the House Committee on Education and Labor marked up and ordered to be reported the College…

"Liberal Education" spoke with two higher education policy experts on what they expect and hope for from the Biden administration. Viviann Anguiano is an associate director for postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress. Eric R. Felix is an assistant professor at San Diego State University, specializing in higher…

The Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 was meant to unlock the secret to upward economic mobility by granting more Americans the chance to obtain a college degree. Nonetheless, the originators failed to recognize how this dramatic shift in federal higher education policy would affect generations to come. Today the federal government originates or…

"Student Debt and the Class of 2017" is the thirteenth annual report produced by The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) on the student loan debt of recent graduates from four-year colleges, documenting the changes in student loan debt and variation among states as well as colleges. [For "Student Debt and the Class of…

Student Debt and the Class of 2016 is the Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS') twelfth annual report on the student loan debt of recent graduates from four-year colleges, documenting the rise in student loan debt and variation among states as well as colleges. State averages for debt at graduation ranged from a low of $20,000 (Utah)…

Although default rates have decreased in recent years, community colleges still struggle to keep their rates in check: 18.5 percent of borrowers from public two-year colleges default within three years compared to the national average rate of 11.3 percent. In 2015, the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) published "A Closer Look…

This hearing represents the eighth in the series of Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions' hearings preparing to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The primary focus of this hearing is strengthening Federal loan programs to ensure they are working well for students and families. Statements from the following committee members are…

"A Closer Look at the Trillion: Borrowing, Repayment and Default at Iowa's Community Colleges," takes an unprecedented look at community college student borrowing and repayment behavior. The report uses data from all 16 community colleges in Iowa to examine the characteristics of borrowers and defaulters to help colleges and policymakers…

The increasing costs, paid by the Department of Education through 47 loan guaranty agencies, for defaulted loans made through the Guaranteed Student Loan Program prompted the General Accounting Office (GAO) to evaluate the policies and procedures used by the Department and the guaranty agencies. The purposes were to determine whether: (1) the…

As part of a larger program to identify and analyze federal programs at high risk for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement, this publication presents an evaluation of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), formerly the Guaranteed Student Loan Program. The analysis argues that the program has not been successful in protecting the…