Background Higher education has the potential to generate extraordinary economic opportunities for those who attend (Haveman & Wolfe, 1984; Baum et al., 2013). Yet from the earliest days of colle...

Ahead of the July 1 deadline set by Congress in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the U.S. Department of Education released final regulations to implement a new framework for earnings-based accounta...

Comparing Accountability Before and After the One Big Beautiful Bill Act  In the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed in the summer of 2025, Republicans in Congress created a statutory accountabi...

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This report was published through the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Consumer Finance Institute. A key provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, signed into law in July 2025,…

Graduate school is an increasingly common education choice, with the number of U.S. adults with a graduate degree doubling over the last two decades. Yet very little is known about the outcomes of…

Learn more about this policy brief via articles in The Washington Post and Inside Higher Ed .

To read the proposed regulations this post discusses or to submit comments to the U.S. Department of Education by April 8, 2026, click here . Last summer, Congress passed the One Big…

For-profit colleges are private postsecondary institutions that are organized as businesses. Unlike private nonprofit institutions, profits do not need to be reinvested into the institution, but…

Prospective college students face a daunting task in choosing which of the more than 6,000 U.S. postsecondary institutions will meet their needs and improve their lives. Some students are bombarded…

June 3-5, 2026 | Apply by March 1 The Postsecondary Education & Economics Research (PEER) Center invites early- and mid-career academics conducting higher education policy research to apply to…

Prospective college students face a daunting task in choosing which of the more than 6,000 U.S. postsecondary institutions will meet their needs and improve their lives. Some students are bombarded wi...

To read the proposed regulations this post discusses or to submit comments to the Department of Education, click here . The Department recently released proposed regulations that…

June 3-5, 2026 | Apply by March 1 The Postsecondary Education & Economics Research (PEER) Center invites early- and mid-career academics conducting higher education policy research to apply to…

Scientific research is a cornerstone of innovation, economic growth, and human well-being. The emergence of the modern U.S. scientific ecosystem in the post-World War II era has delivered…

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law last July, established the first-ever statutory framework to hold most higher education programs – including all graduate certificates and…

This report was published through the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Consumer Finance Institute. A key provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, signed into law in July 2025,…

For more than a decade, higher education policymakers have contemplated ways to hold postsecondary education programs responsible for ensuring adequate outcomes of their graduates. The most significan...

For more than a decade, higher education policymakers have contemplated ways to hold postsecondary education programs responsible for ensuring adequate outcomes of their graduates. The most significan...

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that became law this past July included significant changes affecting the way Americans will pay for higher education. Since 2006, both graduate students and…

College affordability and value are issues on the minds of policymakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as prospective students and their families. Additionally, recent legislation from Congress,…

In July, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that included significant changes to the federal government’s role in funding higher education. Among them is a new accountability…

Based on our analysis of recent borrowing levels, OBBBA’s new loan limits will curtail borrowing for about one-third of both all parent and all graduate student borrowers. Read more.