A long overdue, much needed transformation is underway in the higher education system. It started a decade ago, when federal and state policy­makers first began to collect data on what students earn after pursuing a postsecondary education. But new data are fundamentally differ­ent. Unlike broad-based national statistics, such as how much someone…

The 2020 Democratic presidential primary elevated free-college plans to the top of the national agenda, with many candidates proposing expansive programs to help states make public colleges and universities free for in-state students. Proponents of these plans argue that tuition at public colleges and universities has become increasingly…

The path to economic mobility increasingly runs through postsecondary education. Although the combination of rising tuition prices and a difficult labor market have raised questions about the value of education after high school, degree and certificate holders are still better off than those with just a high school diploma. As a group, young…

What if, instead of borrowing, students could arrange for investors to pay their college bills in exchange for a fixed percentage of their future income? In this article, the authors answer this provocative question, arguing that the time has come to think more creatively about financing college, especially because Congress seems more inclined to…

The dramatic rise in university tuition costs is placing a greater financial burden on millions of college-bound Americans and their families. Yet only a fraction of the additional money colleges are collecting--twenty-one cents on the dollar--goes toward instruction. And, by many measures, colleges are doing a worse job of educating Americans.…