Student Aid Policy | Inside Higher Ed

Opening Up College-Prep Programs

The decades-old rules don’t make sense, advocates say, and hinder efforts to better serve low-income and first-generation students.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, a middle-aged Hispanic man with glasses and a salt-and-pepper goatee, wears a blue suit at a House budget hearing.

Government Student Aid Policy

House Debt Plan Would Mean Higher Ed Spending Cuts

The Education Department could have to cut anywhere from 8 to 23 percent out of its budget under the House Republicans’ opening offer on debt ceiling negotiations.

A chart showing that a family with an income of $80,000 could be eligible for $3,000 more in institutional aid, though that number decreases if the family has more children in college.

Government Student Aid Policy

How New FAFSA Will Change What Students Pay

While students over all will gain billions in funds, students with siblings in college likely could lose some financial aid under the new federal formula.

An unidentified female student uses a laptop to take notes in class. She is wearing scrubs and is sitting on the front row.

Government Student Aid Policy

How Gainful Employment Changed Higher Ed

The once-revolutionary idea, abandoned under former president Trump, is coming back. Experts think Biden’s gainful-employment rule will be tougher than previous versions and could lead to more programs failing.

Quick Takes

Supreme Court Rejects Borrower-Defense Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block a class-action settlement in a long-running lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education...

A pile of U.S. currency—bundles of $100 bills, scattered $20 bills and some coins—with the words "student debt" in the middle of the pile.

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Future of Borrower Defense May Look Different

New borrower defense to repayment regulations may bring increased compliance risks to colleges of all types, Jonathan Helwink writes.

Front of the Department of Education building

Government Student Aid Policy

Narrowing Its Sights

Education Department again delays controversial guidance on outside contractors and says it won’t affect many organizations that critics feared it might.

The Key Podcast

Ep. 94: Higher Ed’s Longtime Chief Lobbyist, Unplugged

Terry Hartle talks about the state of U.S. politics, higher ed policy making, and colleges’ role in the culture wars as he concludes 30 years of advocacy for colleges.