Category: College Affordability

2009, College Access, College Affordability, Financial Aid, Research/Policy

From Hydrocarbons to Higher Learning: The Arabian Peninsula’s Education Boom

By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute Last week, the National Association for Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) unveiled its recommendations for changes to the current federal financial aid system. This comes at the heels of what undeniably will be a sea change in the present system by the Obama Administration. NASFAA has called this offering a National Conversation Initiative, which included town … Continue reading From Hydrocarbons to Higher Learning: The Arabian Peninsula’s Education Boom

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2008, College Affordability, Financial Aid, Research/Policy

$17,000 a Year… Scary as Hell!

By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO of Educational Policy Institute and EPI International My friends and colleagues at The College Board (dot.com, no less), led by the industrious Sandy Baum, released the annual Trends in College Pricing report yesterday. As many of our readers know, I am quite familiar with the Trends reports, having co-directed that series in the late 1990s. In fact, I had dinner … Continue reading $17,000 a Year… Scary as Hell!

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2008, College Affordability, K12

And Education is… Forgotten

By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO of Educational Policy Institute and EPI International Unless you’ve been holed up in your 1950s-era bomb shelter (or in Indiana Jones lead-lined refrigerator!), the last week has been non-stop politics, with a quick entertainment break called Hurricane Gustav. I can’t remember the last time two conventions were back-to-back, but I’m guessing that the media needs a break. Poor Wolfie. He … Continue reading And Education is… Forgotten

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2008, College Affordability

Welcome to the New America

By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute I did some fact checking this morning, and, as of yesterday, the average gallon of gas in the US cost $4.11. That’s over a dollar higher than a year ago and almost three times the price of regular unleaded in 2003. Even at our previous peak during the Iran crisis in 1979, gas was only … Continue reading Welcome to the New America

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2008, College Affordability, Research/Policy

Still Arguing About the Cost Issues

Yesterday, Yahoo Finance posted an article on the worst-paying college degrees in 2010 (see below). Among them are education ($35,100 starting; $54,900 mid-career), special education, child and family studies, and social work. For those of you that follow the trends on return on investment from advanced degrees, the stable outcome of the past decade-plus is that only advanced degrees, such as law, medicine, and other professional levels, are beating inflation. BAs are holding steady, but anything else, including the now-vaulted associate degrees, are losing ground. Continue reading Still Arguing About the Cost Issues

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