Trump's ED Department has punished Harvard with heightened cash monitoring, an oversight tool for financially shaky colleges. But as ED squeezes Harvard, it’s letting unstable colleges slide off HCM—leaving students & taxpayers unprotected: My latest: www.newamerica.org/education-po...

"Budgets are being balanced on the backs of students—often in the forms of debt." Replay today's Congressional hearing on #college costs to hear from our #HigherEd expert @amylaitinen.bsky.social on how that big "beautiful" (🙄) bill will have a big negative impact on student affordability.

“An attack that undermines accreditation is an attack on independence in higher education.” A new #Academe article by Antoinette Flores examines both the history of accreditation in higher ed and political interference in the accreditation system today. @antoinetteflores.bsky.social @newamerica.org

"accreditation is a reflection of shared academic values and professional norms—not a faceless, all-powerful regulator. An attack that undermines accreditation is an attack on independence in higher education." Read @antoinetteflores.bsky.social: www.aaup.org/secret-weapo...

1/ I wrote for @theatlantic.com about what happened when Trump and Linda McMahon fired half the U.S. Department of Education: Everyone responsible for preventing higher education fraud is now gone. It's open season on students and taxpayers. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

This week, ED released 90/10 calculations, the first time since new regulations closed the loophole that allowed colleges to prey on veterans. It now includes all federal aid. 16 colleges failed compared to 5 using the previous measure. The problem? Today ED announced it was changing the rules

University of Austin co-founder Joe Lonsdale no longer just asking questions about race

Now that both House and Senate versions of higher ed reconciliation proposals are out @educationwork.newamerica.org has a number of recommendations on how policymakers can strengthen the accountability and loan repayment provisions to protect students and taxpayers www.newamerica.org/education-po...

Lawmakers are poised to extend Pell to short-term credentials. With few guardrails in place, it will incentivize an explosion in unaccredited for-profit providers, and rack up the cost of Pell. Taking note of anyone saying this is a good idea with no concerns www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Two big takeaways from my new piece today. One, the Trump administration is trying to strong-arm an accreditor into doing its political bidding. Two, Columbia’s accredition isn’t in real jeopardy if the proper processes are followed. www.newamerica.org/education-po...

Apropos of nothing, but here's my story from October on accreditation. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

How could the One Big Beautiful Bill affect how we pay for college? In the latest episode of @NewAmerica.org's #DemocracyDeciphered, ‪@shannonlynchdc.bsky.social‬ chats with ‪@antoinetteflores.bsky.social‬ of ‪@educationwork.newamerica.org‬ to break it all down. 🎧 go.newamerica.org/dem-decipher...

NEW via @srcellini.bsky.social @peerresearch.bsky.social: Congress might offer Pell Grants to #highered programs as short as 8 weeks -- including at unaccredited schools. Research shows that's likely to be both expensive to taxpayers and enormously risky for students www.american.edu/spa/peer/wor...

Sec. McMahon describes ED as “an agency that is responsibly winding down.” Meanwhile, House Republicans are seeking to pass legislation that would require it to dramatically ramp up to implement one of the most complicated set of changes in decades, setting off an implementation nightmare.

Today the Senate HELP advanced Nicholas Kent, nominee for ED's top higher education policy role, without a hearing. Kent's experience includes lobbying for for-profit colleges and against regulations that protect students. Here's what the Senate should have asked and the public deserved answers to

While Congressional Republicans are looking to strike the concept of gainful employment from the HEA, the Trump Administration is offering a strong defense of GE regulations in court, saying the need is acute given high levels of unpaid debt

Grand Canyon University misled students about the costs of its doctoral programs. Now it's off the hook. open.substack.com/pub/friendly...

The U.S. Department of Education has canceled all 2025 Fulbright-Hays fellowships, leaving many doctoral students and faculty without key study abroad opportunities. A major setback for international education and global expertise. #FulbrightHays #HigherEd www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

A few new accreditors want federal recognition. Their leaders are tied to predatory for-profit colleges, some of which defrauded students. My latest: www.newamerica.org/education-po...

Harvard redid its whole homepage to push back against the administration’s demands. I mean, this is just a website but I think it’s kind of a great PR move: www.harvard.edu

As of this morning, we've tracked over 600 student visa revocations at more than 100 colleges. That's double yesterday morning's count. Send updates to me or @amowreader.com and follow @insidehighered.com interactive visa map here: www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

Rather than removing corrupting political ideology by selectively limiting the federal influence in education, the Trump administration has inserted it — paving the way to re-establish a system rife with unjust discrimination.

Last month, ED revoked a waiver that allowed undocumented students to participate in TRIO programs under a pilot in CA and OR. It was intended to gain evidence of improved outcomes. But documents show the reasoning was inconsistent with Federal law and against the terms of the grant agreement.

NEW: Researchers have sued the NIH and HHS, alleging that they have engaged in a "reckless and illegal purge to stamp out NIH-funded research that addresses topics and populations that they disfavor" by terminating hundreds of grants, violating the APA, Fifth Amendment and the Separation of Powers.

NEW REPORT: @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social knows the data on graduate student debt better than most -- and you should read his @peerresearch.bsky.social brief on the topic to learn more! www.american.edu/spa/peer/upl... 1/

Fired ED employees explain how they were locked out of systems so they couldn't transfer or leave any record of work for remaining staff to continue, including ongoing civil rights investigations and investigations of colleges who misused financial aid funds www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

You don’t need 6 governor’s to run an op-ed campaign unless you know the action to dismantle ED is deeply unpopular. All 6 of these governors are fine as long as the billions their schools and colleges receive keeps flowing. But what happens when it doesn’t?

This is purely symbolic. While the President cant shut down the Department without Congress, the work is already underway. It started with the reckless cancellation of research and data contracts and the firing of half the staff, including the ones who could best tell you how students are performing

'sold as slave labor to El Salvador' is I honestly think a fair way of describing it

If you need help explaining to people what the Department of Education does and why it matters, this, from Ben Miller (hosted by @mattyglesias.bsky.social) is as good as it gets open.substack.com/pub/matthewy...

Take a moment today to read about a few of the young children whom Trump and Musk killed by shutting down USAID. The blame for these deaths falls on them. There will be hundreds of thousands more dead kids before their lethal crusade against foreign aid ends. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

This is who was fired from the union workforce at the Department of Education yesterday. Every single number is a person who served the nation and whose life was wrongly disrupted. That's the first tragedy, but it's clearly not the only one.

ED says after its shameful actions today it will have cut more than 1100 staff. These are the folks that ensure students get grants and loans to pay for college, that students aren’t ripped off by predatory actors and that colleges have the resources to serve students well www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

They adopted a posture of total submission and it bought them precisely nothing. A lesson for the Trump era www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03...

Most cosmetology students can't earn a living wage, no matter their state. That's a horrifying reality, one that my team and I tease out in our new report on for-profit beauty schools we published today. This has been in the works for years, FYI! www.newamerica.org/education-po... Read on ↓

1/ I wrote about Linda McMahon's so-called "final mission" to destroy the U.S. Department of Education from within. The most important thing to emphasize is that this lawless "mission" is doomed to failure, as long as people stand up, speak out, and fight back. www.newamerica.org/education-po...

On Feb. 18, Trump ordered all agencies to publicize DOGE cuts “to the maximum extent" and @insidehighered.com immediately requested a comprehensive list of such cuts from the Ed Dept. Now, it's been 2 weeks and ED has yet to respond. Here's what we know: www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

You wouldn't know it from reading Linda McMahon's email to staff but one of the ED's largest functions is to help students access education after high school and promote high-quality education among colleges of all kinds. More on the Department's critical role in higher education here:

I don’t understand #highered association heads putting out the same old “we look forward to working with Sec. McMahon” statements this morning in light of this email to ED staff last night. Some nuance might be called for, you know?

On Feb. 25, 1960, Alabama St. students staged a sit-in at a lunch counter in Montgomery. A few days later, the governor threatened to cut the colleges funding unless it expelled the students. He also commended white people who patrolled the street w/ baseball bats for their "tolerance and restraint"

That students deserve to be protected from discrimination was deleted from McMahon’s top priorities in the final email that went to ED staff www.ed.gov/about/news/s...

Don't believe the hype of DOGE "savings." We analyzed $900 mn in cuts to IES research contracts. The numbers are heavily inflated, pulled from thin air, and don't account for money already spent. It's the equivalent of setting hundreds of millions on fire. More from @zachschermele.bsky.social