Resources

Higher Learning Advocates’ federal policy resources include the most current data on adult students, parenting students, college affordability, equity, and more. Our work has resulted in positive change for today’s students, including access to discounted broadband for Pell students, the establishment of emergency aid funds, and increased financial aid for parenting students.

Gainful Employment 101

Is higher education worth the investment? While some factors—the cost of attendance and time to earn a degree or credential—are clear, the outcomes students can expect after completing higher learning programs are difficult to determine. Gainful employment is one tool that, if implemented properly, would allow potential students access to the information they need to…
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#SupportStudentParents Student Videos

To learn more about the barriers that student parents face and the policy changes that could better support them, check out these videos from two student parents:
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Ensuring Quality of Online Education Programs

Ensuring Quality of Online Education Programs

In spring 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the country, colleges and universities swiftly shuttered their campuses to students, unsure of for how long or what was coming next. As faculty scrambled to continue their courses virtually, they utilized emergency remote learning to deliver course content like lectures and seminars, facilitated online assessments, and…
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Today’s Students Mental Health Factsheet

Many of today’s students face mental health challenges while in college, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made matters worse. Check out HLA’s new factsheet to learn more about today’s students’ mental health challenges while in college. View the factsheet here.
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Ensuring Equity: Policy Recommendations to Increase the Diversity of Selective Public Institutions of Higher Education

Not all institutions of higher education are equal—in their funding, resources, or student outcomes. Selective public institutions, typically defined as those with lower acceptance rates and high graduation rates compared to other public institutions, often offer the best odds for their students to succeed. Enrollment at selective institutions is correlated with student success, including higher…
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Factsheet: Equity Gaps in Higher Education

There is a significant and persistent disparity in educational attainment between different groups of students. Equity gaps between students of different races and ethnicities often begin in K-12 education—87 percent of white students graduate high school on time, compared to 76 percent of Hispanic and 73 percent of African Americans students. These gaps—the results of…
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101: Distance Education

101: Distance Education

Today’s students—who are more diverse in age, race, and income than any previous generation—are more likely to be older, working, parenting, and may be working part-time or online. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, distance education was becoming more common. Learn more about distance education and how it is used by today’s students here.
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Distance Education Backgrounder

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic made distance education the new normal, it was steadily becoming more common. Today’s students—many of whom work while in college, are financially independent, or have children of their own—need access to a college education off-campus to pursue higher education in a format that works for them. But there are still…
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State Profiles

State profiles feature key data points, visual infographics, and brief explanations of all 50 states, and are a quick and easy resource for policymakers, analysts and media.

Find Your State