Tag: writing

Illuminated pyramid sculpture with orange, blue, and pink panels on university campus
2026, Retention, Student Success

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

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2026, Politics, Research/Policy

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

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2026, College Affordability, ROI/College Outcomes

Putting College Costs in Perspective: A Brief History in Time (and CPI)

by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist I grew up at a special, prosperous time in history. Born in the early 60s, I didn’t have the burden of living through a world war. In fact, we didn’t think of war much in my youth. Raised in Canada, Vietnam wasn’t our issue. We read about it. But because it wasn’t us, it mattered … Continue reading Putting College Costs in Perspective: A Brief History in Time (and CPI)

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2018, Research/Policy

Sixteen Years of Writing

By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute I was doing a little math today. Since 2006, EPI has published over 300 commentaries through the former Education This Week and The Swail Letter. Not all were written by me. Former EPIer Alex Usher wrote a bunch, and other guest columnists, like Steve Trachtenberg, Don Heller, Peter Smith, and Roseanne Runte, made contributions … Continue reading Sixteen Years of Writing

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