Whenever a new President of the United States takes office, a key responsibility is to select cabinet nominees and directors of various agencies. Many positions must be confirmed by the Senate, which means that it will be important to learn which political party will control that chamber in January. Regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans occupied the White House or controlled the House and Senate, no group has been successful in reauthorizing the Higher Education Act in recent years. That legislation last was reauthorized in 2008 for a five-year period. It will be interesting to see if the 117th Congress will enjoy more success in passing a bill that can be sent to the President to be enacted into law.

Viewed historically, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) was created on April 11, 1953. It lasted until the Department of Education Organization Act was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, which provided for a separate Department of Education in 1979. HEW subsequently became the present day Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on May 4, 1980. Along with a new Education Secretary, other political appointees will include Under Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, and Deputy Secretaries, with a resultant impact on Department policy areas, including higher education and accreditation. These new officials can be expected to conduct a close review of policies implemented during the Trump administration with an inclination to modify priorities and possibly restore some regulations that were revised during the past four years. Accreditation is one of many higher education aspects that could be affected by such modifications. Another topic featured during Democratic primaries was to provide assistance to students burdened with educational debt as discussed below.

The Volume And Repayment Of Federal Student Loans

Between 1995 and 2017, the balance of outstanding federal student loan debt increased from $187 billion to $1.4 trillion (in 2017 dollars). During the Democratic primaries, several candidates expressed interest in providing financial assistance to lower the amount of debt for students. A report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in November 2020 examines factors contributing to that growth, including changes to student loan policies, and how they affected borrowing and repayment. Much of the overall increase in borrowing occurred because the share of borrowers who attended for-profit schools increased substantially. Students who attended for-profit institutions were more likely to leave school without completing their programs and to fare worse in the job market than students who attended other types of schools. They also were more likely to default on their loans. Also, the incidence of default and participation in income-driven repayment plans, which limit how much borrowers must repay regardless of how much they borrow, increased over the period. Both of those factors resulted in larger outstanding student loan balances. The 117th Congress furnishes an opportunity to determine whether federal assistance should be provided as a means of lowering student loan debt.

Race And Ethnicity In Higher Education

The American Council on Education launched its Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education Project in 2019 with aims to: provide a data-informed foundation from which the higher education community can examine racial disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes; draw insights; raise new questions; and make the case for why it is vital to discuss racial equity gaps present in U.S. higher education. The Council released on November 16, 2020 its Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education: 2020 Supplement. The report examines over 150 indicators, looking at academic experiences and outcomes, and how these educational journeys differ, by race and ethnicity. Invited scholarly essays also provide further context around race and ethnicity in higher education that data alone cannot tell. A focus is on how average figures mask concentrations of debt, most notably held by more economically vulnerable populations, such as students who have not completed their degrees. Moreover, failure to disaggregate the borrower population ignores substantial portions of society whose student loan experience is quite different. Black borrowers and their families are accumulating more debt on average and their struggles with repayment result in some of the highest default rates. Data presented in the report may prove helpful to policymakers in efforts to address these kinds of disparities.

return to November 2020 trends

DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

More November 2020 TRENDS Articles

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

HEALTH REFORM DEVELOPMENTS

DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

QUICK STAT (SHORT, TIMELY, AND TOPICAL)

AVAILABLE RESOURCES ACCESSIBLE ELECTRONICALLY

POPULATION HEALTH SCIENCE AND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

MOVING FROM A GERM THEORY OF DISEASE TO THE MICROBIAL THEORY OF HEALTH