Today, Congress approved a budget deal, ending a brief government shutdown and agreeing to a framework that would set budget parameters for the next two years. The compromise eventually approved by U.S. Senate leaders included several key provisions that could have a major impact on student success and higher education accountability. Here’...

Today, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) will begin meeting to review the status of accrediting agencies, which play the role of gatekeepers to federal financial aid. We entrust the nation’s system of higher education quality assurance—including accreditors—with ensuring that students use more tha...

Current Gainful Employment regulations require programs at for-profit institutions and certain career and technical programs at all other schools to meet certain debt-to-earnings ratios of their graduates or face the loss of eligibility to participate in federal financial aid programs. This week, critical conversations about higher education accoun...

This week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on the complex topics of accountability and risk. As the conversation highlighted, it’s time to re-examine the ways we hold higher education providers accountable for the outcomes they produce for students. So who decides which colleges can participate in federal...

The Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER Act) (H.R. 4508) was introduced by House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) on December 1 to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The bill makes significant changes to the underlying law, including expanding partnerships and...

Dear Colleague, As we wind down 2017, we reflect on the dynamic year it’s been for changes in higher education policy, even in just the past few weeks. In the final Higher Learning Advocates update of the year, we’d like to share with you some recent products and resources. We also take a look ahead…

H.R. 4508, introduced by House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), would significantly change how accreditors are recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and how they grant accreditation to institutions of higher education. The chart below compares the accreditation provisions in current law and in the PROSP...

The Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act, recently introduced by House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), proposed a rewrite of the Higher Education Act that would have a dramatic impact on the more than $150 billion spent by taxpayers annually on postsecondar...