Illuminated pyramid sculpture with orange, blue, and pink panels on university campus

The Geometry of Student Success

By Watson Scott Swail, President/CEO & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute In the mid-1990s, I created the Swail Geometric Framework to help higher education practitioners better understand the primary factors that contribute to student attrition and the strategies they can use to address them. Since then, dozens—if not hundreds—of universities have used the model successfully. First published in the ASHE-ERIC/Jossey-Bass volume “Retaining Minority Students in Higher … Continue reading The Geometry of Student Success

America’s International Student Reckoning: New Visa Restrictions and Enrollment Declines Threaten Higher Education

For decades, international students have been a cornerstone of American higher education, helping universities fill classrooms, sustain graduate programs, conduct cutting-edge research, and generate billions of dollars in tuition revenue. Today, however, a combination of restrictive immigration policies, declining student mobility, and growing uncertainty about studying in the United States is creating one of the most significant challenges the sector has faced in years. The cost of these losses will be in the tens of millions for individual institutions and hundreds of billions for the US economy as a whole. Continue reading America’s International Student Reckoning: New Visa Restrictions and Enrollment Declines Threaten Higher Education

Will Anyone Stand Up for America?

by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist UPDATED 4:10PM EST, OCTOBER 16, 2025 Since writing this piece and publishing the morning of October 16, 2025, both Brown University and Penn University have also pushed back on the Trump Compact. That brings them in line with MIT and Dartmouth and leaves four other institutions mulling the Administration’s offer over. Expect more dominoes to … Continue reading Will Anyone Stand Up for America?

A Time for Action

by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist I preface this piece by acknowledging that I am an equal-opportunity political critic. While I lean left and am a registered Democrat, I have also taken on the Biden Administration in recent years as well as both Dems and GOP members. Politics is a contact sport. Here is the deal. Every four years, voters have the … Continue reading A Time for Action

Loan Cancellation or Pension Bailout? A Conundrum for the Pundits

by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist In August 2022, the Biden Administration dropped a student loan cancellation program on the country. At a cost of over $400 million, the program was to cancel $10,000 of student loan debt from anyone with an income of under $125,000/year ($250k if married filing jointly). Another $10,000 for those who received a Pell Grant, which is … Continue reading Loan Cancellation or Pension Bailout? A Conundrum for the Pundits