"Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2017" contains the Budget Message of the President, information on the President's priorities, and summary tables. President Obama's 2017 Budget makes critical investments while adhering to the bipartisan budget agreement he signed into the previous fall, and it lifts sequestration in…

"Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2016" contains the Budget Message of the President, information on the President's priorities, and summary tables. The ideas offered by President Obama in this 2016 Budget are designed to bring middle-class economics into the 21st Century. They are intended to help working families…

As with the collapse of the subprime lending industry, the showdown between for-profit colleges and the government shows how the aspirations of the underserved, when combined with lax regulation, make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer. For-profit colleges provide high-cost degree programs that have little chance of leading to high-paying…

The evidence advanced in this report demonstrates that using tax credits to fund scholarships for students is both well-established and sound practice. Three existing credits allow taxpayer funds to flow to faith-based organizations, and one of those, the Qualified Endowment Credit, rewards contributions to more than a thousand charitable…

Traditionally, the United States higher education system has been the envy of the world for its high quality, accessibility to millions of Americans, ability to train generations of skilled workers, and its contribution to creating the vast American middle class. Today, however, higher education is experiencing new pressures. A new generation of…

Maintaining a high service rate (defined as the proportion of high school graduates enrolling at a University of Wisconsin (UW) System institution for the following fall term) for Wisconsin high school graduates is one of the goals identified in the second phase of accountability reporting by the UW System. The population of 1999 Wisconsin high…

California continues to widen access to local child care and preschool programs--albeit in fits and starts--for a variety of families. About 65% of all four year-olds statewide now attend a preschool center. Government spends $3.6 billion on early care and education programs statewide, including a three-fold increase in state spending since 1996.…

This newsletter issue focuses on the roles played by higher education finance and student financial aid in ensuring broad access to higher education. Specifically, the report discusses trends in family income and college costs that affect the need for student aid. The report finds that income remains a primary determinant of students' educational…