Category: Education Economics

April 17, 2024

A week after previewing its plans to provide debt relief for 26 million Americans, the Biden administration is taking the next step this week to making it a reality. Today, the Education Department published the proposed regulations that will enable […]

April 12, 2024

President Biden’s new plan to forgive some or all student loans for 26 million Americans would cost about $84 billion over 10 years, according to economists at the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan research organization at the Wharton School […]

April 3, 2024

From protecting reefs and fighting climate change to purchasing a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometer, projects for colleges and universities funded in the latest federal budget run a wide gamut. Colleges and universities are planning to put more than $1.3 billion […]

March 25, 2024

Congress voted late last week to approve a 2024 fiscal year budget for agencies covered by six of its 12 annual appropriations bills, belatedly completing its work nearly halfway into the fiscal year. Members of Congress had approved legislation covering […]

March 20, 2024

The final chapters of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding are drawing near. The imminent end of ESSER funding has pushed school districts to a critical juncture, compelling them to confront budget deficits for the upcoming 2024-2025 school […]

March 11, 2024

The Biden administration is proposing a 3.9% increase over fiscal 2023 for the U.S. Department of Education, for a total of $82 billion in discretionary funding for early learning, K-12 and higher education in its fiscal year 2025 budget released […]

February 27, 2024

According to the NAEYC analysis of survey responses from 10,128 early childhood educators nationwide, 55% of all respondents said they knew of at least one child care program closing in their community in the past six months. Only 30% were […]

February 15, 2024

Endowment returns for fiscal year 2023 are up 7.7 percent according to the latest study by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund. That marks a reversal of fortunes after returns fell by 8 percent in […]

January 25, 2024

School districts are already anticipating a fiscal cliff from the expiration of federal pandemic relief funds, but that slide could be even steeper due to recent and upcoming state funding changes. Finance experts and new analyses warn that developments at […]

January 5, 2024

For over three years, the federal government paused monthly student loan payments and interest accrual, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Since payments restarted in October, many customers have said they faced administrative challenges and received little communication from loan service providers. […]

December 7, 2023

The U.S. Department of Education indicated in its latest regulatory agenda that it will release two long-awaited Title IX rules in March, likely sparking frustration among campus sexual assault prevention and LGBTQ+ advocates after repeated delays. Education Department officials have […]

October 16, 2023

When Erin Ford joined Virginia’s Chesterfield County Public Schools as director of technology services, she became concerned about the way the district monitored its technology assets. “We were tracking Chromebooks in a vendor-supported asset management system,” she says. “We also […]

October 6, 2023

More than 200 colleges and universities are eligible to receive federal funding designated for institutions with large numbers of Asian American, Native American and Pacific Islander students this year, but the majority are not applying. Just 32 of 192 eligible […]

October 3, 2023

The already dizzyingly confusing process of applying for financial aid was further complicated this year when the federal government postponed the release of the updated FAFSA from October to December. Theoretically, the new FAFSA, which stands for Free Application for […]

October 2, 2023

Federal money will continue to flow to state and local school systems — at least for now — after lawmakers in Congress struck a deal late Saturday for a continuing resolution to keep the government open through Nov. 17. President […]

September 29, 2023

The interest rates on new graduate loans from the U.S. Department of Education now top 7% while those for undergraduate loans have reached over 5%, the highest levels they’ve been in over a decade. That’s partly because the Federal Reserve […]

September 29, 2023

The Biden-Harris Administration marked a critical step forward in its efforts to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible through negotiated rulemaking under the Higher Education Act, even as extreme House Republicans threaten a government shutdown that […]

August 25, 2023

The U.S. Department of Education has settled with five free-standing law schools after an investigation showed that those institutions “improperly disbursed” federal financial aid to students enrolled in unaccredited master of laws programs. Albany Law School, Atlanta’s John Marshall School […]

August 22, 2023

Student loan borrowers can now apply for the Biden administration’s new loan repayment program, and the Education Department is working with a network of organizations to spread the word. The release of the application, which launched in beta form earlier […]

August 16, 2023

As juniors and seniors return to high school this fall, part of their school day likely will include thinking about which colleges and universities they’ll apply to. But recent data suggests that’s the case for fewer students, as college enrollment […]