By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute The last few weeks haven’t been terribly good weeks for the student loan industry. In fact, the last year hasn’t been one to remember if you work at one of the loan agencies or associated institutions. Let’s take a brief review… In May of 2006, Sallie Mae was skewered on 60 minutes for its business … Continue reading A Slippery Slope
By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute This week there has been much talk about increased funding for the Pell Grant program in the United States. For those new to this discussion, the Pell Grant, named after former Senator Claiborne Pell, is the federal government’s “foundation” program for student aid, providing need-based aid to low-income students. That roughly equates to those students … Continue reading The Problem with Pell
By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute This has been a busy week for educational researchers and for EPI. Two major conferences are happening as I write this commentary: the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) in Anaheim, California, and the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC) in Washington, DC. Both deal, in part, to expanding access and success at the … Continue reading Do We Know What to Do?
By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute Yesterday I was fortunate to attend the press conference for Measuring Up 2006, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education’s report card on higher education at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Measuring Up provides a report card for each of the 50 states, plus a national overview. In this week’s commentary, … Continue reading Measuring Up 2006: What Experts Really Think
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 