The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (DL) program, authorized under Title IV, Part D of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, is the primary federal student loan program administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The program makes available loans to undergraduate and graduate students and the parents of dependent…

As part of an effort to improve the quality of educational research and make it less balkanized, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) have introduced a common set of evidence standards for federally funded work. The criteria will guide all new research at the IES, the U.S. Department of Education's…

This research project examines the influence of the for-profit college sector on the 2008 reauthorization of the "Higher Education Act." It is based on interviews with Congressional staff, college lobbyists, and higher education reporters, as well as the "Congressional Record" and advocacy materials. Findings indicate that the…

Higher education pays off handsomely for society. Yet on a nationwide basis, states' support for higher education per full-time-equivalent student has fallen to just $6,290, the lowest in 15 years. A dedicated source of funds for higher education is problematic. But what if state and federal lawmakers applied the impeccable logic of the gas tax to…

Federal benefit programs, including federal student aid, are designed to aid targeted populations. Behavioral responses to these programs may alter the incidence of their benefits, a possibility that receives less attention in the literature compared to tax incidence. I demonstrate the importance of benefit incidence analysis by showing that the…

Students and their families evaluate net price when determining whether they can afford a college. But what affects net price? There are factors, such as instructional inefficiencies, administrative expenses, federal financial aid, and state appropriations, that have been noted in the literature that have an impact on costs and tuition. This study…

With the US recovering from a recession, a college diploma has become more valuable to avoid unemployment. Despite a college degree's importance, the access to higher education is a challenge for lower income Pell-Eligible Vermont students. For the past three decades, higher education continues to rise in cost faster than family income. Cost is…

One of the most overlooked and complex problems that universities and colleges face nation-wide is how to reduce and eliminate research misconduct. Because of the confidential nature of allegations of research misconduct and the high rate of underreporting, administrators at scholarly institutions struggle with understanding the cause of such…

Higher education offers people from all walks of life the opportunity to achieve a more secure future for themselves and their families. The country was built in part on the idea that, with hard work and a good education, any American should be able to climb the ladder of social and economic mobility. The very notion of the American Dream is based…

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…

Student parents face many challenges, including paying for child care, that can make it difficult for them to complete a degree. The federal government supports student parents through Education's Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program, which provides colleges funding for child care services, and federal student aid, which can…

The State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas (SOSA) annual report from Trellis Research provides information helpful in informing policy and programs for higher education student financial aid. The report serves as a reference for colleges, universities, and policymakers, and provides a comparison of Texas state and federal student aid…

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) playbook series has explored strategies and processes states can use to strengthen CTE program quality and provide students with pathways to postsecondary credentialing and middle- and higher wage career opportunities. In the first three CTE Playbooks, ExcelinEd provided a high-level view of how states can…

For decades, state disinvestment in public higher education, paired with inequitable funding across institution types, has undermined states' ability to provide accessible and affordable higher education opportunities. In recent years, varied higher education stakeholders began calling for an end to state disinvestment through a reimagined…

Recent reforms in teacher evaluation tie these evaluations to student performance as measured by test scores and merit pay has been offered as a way to reward high test scores and improve teacher performance. Thus, the federal Race to the Top program has led several states toward teacher evaluation instruments that incorporate outcome data in the…