Washington, DC – Next week, the Senate will vote on President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos. Ahead of the vote, Mark Huelsman, Senior Policy Analyst and higher education expert at Demos, issued the follow statement:
[...] According to a new report by the progressive think tank Demos, “student debt is particularly damaging for individuals who struggle to repay their loans. Delinquent borrowers are saddled with fees, penalties and rapidly accumulating interest; borrowers who default on their loans face ruined credit and a debt often several times their original loan balance.”
We are concerned that given Ms. DeVos’ track record to privatize public education and her lack of a clear position concerning the affordability crisis in higher education, the committee cannot properly assess whether Ms. DeVos is fit to run the U.S. Department of Education.
New York could join the ranks of states likes of Tennessee and Oregon (in addition to dozens of cities) that have enacted some version of tuition-free public college.
A persistent racial wealth gap, waning investment in higher education and limited institutional resources are driving up the rate of borrowing at historically black colleges and universities, with 4 out of 5 undergraduates relying on student loans to finance their education, according to a new study from the United Negro College Fund.[...]
Like teens gathered around a slumber party campfire, pollsters and news outlets appear to be turning toward a giant game of “would you rather” to help understand the student debt mess.
The good news: If you’re the parent of a college-bound student, it could be cheaper to send your young person to an Ivy League school than to your friendly neighborhood public institution, a potential bargain for families struggling to pay for tuition, room, and board.
Student debt is a crisis, holding back the economy and hobbling a generation. Wonder why today’s young adults aren’t getting married, having children, buying homes, starting businesses, saving the world? Look no further, the culprit is obvious. That’s the conventional wisdom, and it’s taken for granted in many news articles and plenty of policy prescriptions.
When environmentalists speak of climate change, they often talk of “future generations.” But generations already here are poised to suffer long-term consequences. Climate change will affect millennials drastically—including in their wallets.
Yesterday, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) introduced The Degrees Not Debt Act. This legislation would create a state-federal partnership program with the Department of Education, states, and public colleges or universities in order to ensure college affordability becomes a reality for all Americans.
Despite lore from parents and grandparents about the caddying jobs or serving gigs they used to pay for school, today’s young adults know the idea of working your way through college is about as antiquated as milk delivered daily in glass bottles or Mad Men-era martini lunches.
Today, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced major new additions to her plan to provide debt-free public college and reduce the burden of student debt for those struggling to repay. Clinton’s plan would eliminate tuition and fees for working- and middle-class students, which combined with expanded Pell Grants will allow millions of students to graduate with no debt.
Talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. And while many Americans believe fervently and faithfully in expanding opportunity, America’s internship-industrial complex does just the opposite.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its long-standing view that colleges and universities may seek to foster diversity in higher education by considering race and ethnicity as one factor in a holistic admissions process.
Demos applauds this decision, and agrees that a diverse student body is of vital importance to the mission of higher education in America.
“America is the world's boldest experiment in a multi-racial democracy, and yet we are still working to fulfill the ideal of an equal say and an equal chance for all,” s