Numbers Don’t Lie: Obama’s Higher Ed Investments Have a Big Impact on College Access and Affordability During a National Recession

By Hajar Ahmed As my colleagues have written, a little known story about President Obama’s higher education legacy was the priority he placed on substantially boosting financial aid during a time of economic recession. Not only did these investments help families get by during hard financial times, they also helped improve college access while maintaining

Obama’s Crackdown on For-Profit Colleges (VIDEO)

By Hajar Ahmed Check out our latest video on for-profit schools and the Obama Administration’s action. More background on the Obama higher ed legacy and challenges for the next President here.  

Sneak Peek at Obama’s Higher Ed Legacy (VIDEO)

By Hajar Ahmed As Congress debates a re-write of No Child Left Behind Act this week, it’s worth noting that the same issues of inadequacy, inequity, and accountability for underperformance are also present in higher education policy. In response, national leaders confront the same basic 30,000 feet-high political question: Are you for simply more resources

Talk is Cheap

By Hajar Ahmed   Talent, desire and drive – not socioeconomic background – should dictate where students go to college. College access should be based on academic achievement and equally accessible to all. Senator Claiborne Pell Yet we know that low-income students are not getting their fair shot at enrolling in selective colleges: whereas one

Can the ‘unluckiest president in America’ become the luckiest?

By Mary Nguyen Barry & Hajar Ahmed From today’s op-ed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch:   University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan, dubbed “the unluckiest president in America” by Fortune magazine, was just re-upped for two more years as president with a salary bump. The news comes only two months after student-led protests broke out regarding a double-digit tuition hike

Obama Admin Speechwriter Responds

Last week, we published a critique of Obama cabinet members’ commencement appearances at a series of colleges that fail to evidence a meaningful commitment to socioeconomic diversity.  Below, Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s Speechwriter, David Whitman, responds.       I admire the work of Education Reform Now and find many of its blog posts

Congratulations, Class of Education Inequity

By Hajar Ahmed More than a quarter of the commencement speeches given by original members of President Obama’s cabinet have been at colleges that pay no regard to socioeconomic diversity. More than a quarter. Can you believe that?! These “engines of inequality” only represent 5% of all four-year colleges, yet get five times as much

Colleges Think They’re Preparing Students, Employers Don’t: Who’s right?

By Hajar Ahmed When it comes to understanding your college degree’s ROI, should you listen to your college educators or to your future employer? During the opening remarks for the release of a recent study by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation, Brandon Busteed, Executive Director of Education for Gallup, shared a shocking statistic with the

Cap Student Debt in North Carolina, Not Student Aid

By Hajar Ahmed   This past weekend, I took on the UNC Board of Governors’ new tuition and financial aid policy in an op-ed to the Charlotte Observer. Read more at the Charlotte Observer and go to capncstudentdebt.org to sign the petition. The North Carolina Board of Governors should take notice: after a year of intense lobbying

Over 25 Groups Back Obama Teacher Prep Reg: “An Education Equity Mandate”

By Hajar Ahmed The Obama administration’s teacher education reform plan won an influx of support from more than 25 education advocacy and service organizations this week. Advocacy groups that haven’t been aligning of late with respect to K-12 school accountability issues all echoed the same theme in comments submitted to the U.S. Department of Education.