The American Higher Education System: May it Rest in Peace
By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute I’m not sure when it happened, but sometime recently the US Higher Education System passed away, quietly in its sleep, of causes undisclosed to the public. The System, which leaves behind an over-bloated four-year system, an underdeveloped and underskilled two-year system, and an illegitimate proprietary system, had not been well for quite some time. To those … Continue reading The American Higher Education System: May it Rest in Peace
GEARing UP for Success
By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO of Educational Policy Institute and EPI International This past week I was in San Francisco for the Annual GEAR UP Conference, held by my friends at the National Council for Community and Educational Partnerships, or NCCEP. This year marked the 10th anniversary of both GEAR UP and NCCEP, the latter started by my friend Hector Garza, who has created the … Continue reading GEARing UP for Success
Drowning in Debt?
By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute Yesterday, the Education Sector released a new analysis of federal financial aid data (National Postsecondary Student Aid System/NPSAS) illustrating trends in loan burden and other statistics over the years. As one might expect, the news, while illuminating, wasn’t particularly “good.” The big conclusions in the analysis are that (1) more students are taking on more debt … Continue reading Drowning in Debt?
Nation Building and Higher Education
By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute Tomorrow I’m off to the UK for the European Access Network conference in York, England. It’s always fun to travel abroad and learn about access and opportunity issues from of different perspective. As I often mention to my global colleagues, Europe is dealing with issues that the US started dealing with after World War II, for … Continue reading Nation Building and Higher Education
Meet Liz, Vince, and Marvalene
By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute Last week the Educational Policy Institute hosted RETENTION 2009, the fourth annual International Conference on Student Retention. I know you know about it. If you subscribe to EPI, you couldn’t help but notice it. The conference was a qualified success—our initial reports were that the sessions were very good and the location—New Orleans and the Ritz … Continue reading Meet Liz, Vince, and Marvalene
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 