The optimism surrounding e-government to improve government services has been widely documented and supported in public administration literature. This study looks at a long-standing government scholarship program in Indonesia, which shifted from traditional offline to solely online for its application process. This e-government initiative was…

The Department of Education's (Education's) Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) initiated the Next Gen program in 2017. Next Gen's purpose was to modernize the systems and processes that students, parents, borrowers, and school partners use to apply for, administer, and/or process federal student aid. This report examines: (1) the status of FSA's…

For decades, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms were processed electronically by the legacy Central Processing System. In 2021 the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) initiated a system development effort and in December 2023 deployed a new system to process forms for the 2024-2025 school year. However, student aid…

In recent years, nontraditional workforce training programs have proliferated inside and outside of traditional postsecondary institutions. A subset of these programs, bootcamps, advertise high job placement rates and have been hailed by policymakers as key to training skilled workers. However, few formal data exist on the number, types, prices,…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the entry ramp to federal grants and loans that many students depend on to afford college. Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020 in part to make it easier to apply for federal aid. However, Education's rollout of the new FAFSA has suffered from numerous challenges and delays.…

While computing programs in the U.S. are experiencing growth in enrollment trends, they are still grappling with matters related to retention and persistence of computing undergraduates. One construct identified by scholars as having an impact on persistence in computing is computing identity, which is shaped by constructs such as recognition,…

The objective of this audit was to determine whether the U.S. Department of Education's (Department) overall information technology (IT) security programs and practices were effective as they relate to Federal information security requirements. In fiscal year (FY) 2020, the focus of the audit was solely on Departmental Systems. This year the focus…

This Semiannual Report presents the activities and accomplishments of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector General (OIG) from April 1, 2022, through September 30, 2022. The report highlights the audits, investigations, and related work issued during this time frame. Sections include: (1) Pandemic Relief Oversight; (2) Disaster…

As many as 4.4 million U.S. jobs are going unfilled due to shortages of workers with the right skills. Many of these opportunities are in so-called "middle-skill" occupations, such as IT or advanced manufacturing, where workers need some sort of post-secondary credential but not a four-year degree. Expanding access to high-quality career…

In accordance with the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000, the OIG reports annually on the most serious management and performance challenges the Department faces. For FY 2024, we identified seven management challenges for the Department: (1) Implementing pandemic relief laws for elementary and secondary education; (2) Implementing pandemic relief…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has gathered highlights from a variety of data sources to provide a composite, high-level view of the complex American education landscape since the onset of the pandemic. In this first installment of the pandemic data hub, NCES provides findings related to: (1) changes in in-person instruction…

Student affairs and information technology have opportunities to partner in order to increase student satisfaction and retention rates and to assist institutions to comply with federal educational regulations. This chapter contains four examples of emerging best practices and future initiatives including: (a) the admissions pipeline, (b)…

In accordance with the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports annually on the most serious management and performance challenges the Department faces. OIG's reports include a brief assessment of the Department's progress in addressing the challenges. They also identify further actions that, if properly…

Although U.S. higher education has faced numerous crises and dilemmas in its history, the situation in which colleges and universities find themselves at the moment is indeed different. Shrinking public subsidies coupled with historic rises in tuitions come at the same time that colleges and universities have been tasked to dramatically increase…

The "FY 2023 Annual Performance Plan" details the Department's planned strategies and activities to achieve the Strategic Goals and objectives in the "U.S. Department of Education Fiscal Years 2022-2026 Strategic Plan" (see ED625432) as well as the performance indicators that will be used to assess progress on the strategic…