Dive Brief:
- In his testimony before Congress Tuesday, Lehman College President Jose Luis Cruz urged lawmakers to prioritize education outcomes for low-income students and students of color as they develop policies to hold higher education institutions accountable for student success.
- Cruz’s testimony recommended Congress expand the utility of Pell grants and financial aid, develop performance measures around equity and success with low-income students and students of color, and place more emphasis on protecting students from fraud and abuse.
- Education Trust Vice President of Higher Education Policy and Practice Wil Del Pilar said in a blog post for the organization's website that serious equity-focused accountability has the potential to refocus higher education toward its most critical purpose: successful outcomes for students.
Brief Insight:
As institutions grapple with the reality of changing demographics and the idea that an increasingly higher number of students — and the student-aged population in general — will be non-white, first-generation and low-income than ever before, national and local leaders must focus more intently on boosting outcomes for these populations. The good news is, equity has been big part of the conversations surrounding higher education policy lately. For example, Historically Black Colleges and Universities were exempted from the performance penalties in the House version of the bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The bill also includes a number of items that United Negro College Fund has championed, like reducing the complexity of the financial aid program and putting more money into Pell grants to incentivize graduating in four years.
Additionally, there’s the bipartisan Access, Success, and Persistence In Reshaping Education (ASPIRE) Act. The bill encourages institutions to expand access to higher education for low-income students and increase graduation rates. More specifically, it would make funding available for more completion-oriented programs at black colleges while pushing schools with higher completion rates to take in more low-income students. Even on the K-12 front, the U.S. Department of Education has shown it is concerned with equity in its review of state ESSA plans; Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was criticized early for declining to approve plans until more data was provided around how districts would address their performance on equity issues.