📣 @PEERresearch.bsky.social is hosting a virtual event TOMORROW, Sept. 18, 1-2 PM ET. We'll talk everything #highered in reconciliation, what happens next, and how researchers and scholars can engage in the Education Department's rulemaking process! REGISTER: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The typical borrower in four of the largest professional, half of the 30 largest master's programs will hit new graduate loan limits. @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social of @PEERresearch.bsky.social explained how an ROI-based approach to limits could have worked better. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

ICYMI: @PEERresearch.bsky.social is hosting a virtual event on 9/18, 1-2 PM ET. We'll talk everything #highered in reconciliation, what happens next, and how researchers and scholars can engage in the Education Department's rulemaking process! REGISTER: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

NEW from @PEERresearch.bsky.social: A Public Service Loan Forgiveness "study guide" to help you understand who qualifies for PSLF, who's applying, and what it means for policymakers. Check it out here! www.american.edu/spa/peer/pub...

As @usedgov.bsky.social implements a new #highered accountability law, @PEERResearch.bsky.social urged officials to: ➡️ Provide radically improved transparency ➡️ Maintain an earnings test for certificates, a debt-based test ➡️ Release already-collected data More: www.american.edu/spa/peer/rec...

This week, @PEERResearch.bsky.social submitted comments to @usedgov.bsky.social on its upcoming regulatory process to implement the #highered reconciliation law -- including urging the Department to maintain strong accountability and transparency rules. www.american.edu/spa/peer/rec...

The reconciliation law will fundamentally change the student loan landscape. As Congress considered it, @PEERResearch.bsky.social looked at what borrowers would owe on the new modified standard plan and the new (income-driven) Repayment Assistance Plan. Check it out: www.american.edu/spa/peer/hou...

The Postsecondary Education & Economics Research (PEER) Center generates actionable research to drive policy improvements in #highered. Check out peer-center.org and give us a follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/post... to learn more about our work!

Tuition caps or freezes in #highered are supposed to lower costs for students -- but a @PEERResearch.bsky.social brief by scholars Lois Miller and Minseon Park explains why that's not always the case. www.american.edu/spa/peer/upl...

As new grad. loan limits take effect, @PEERResearch.bsky.social dug into the data: ➡️ Health degrees account for nearly half of grad borrowing ➡️ High-debt fields typically have high median earnings ➡️ Typical borrowing varies, across schools and within programs www.american.edu/spa/peer/upl...

Federal loans for graduate school are being capped by the "Big Beautiful Bill". SPA Prof. and @peerresearch.bsky.social co-director @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social fears many won't be able to pursue graduate education as a result. Read: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/12/b... #SPAintheMedia

Excited to be at the @sheeoed.bsky.social conference on behalf of @peerresearch.bsky.social, catching up with old friends and learning more about all the #highered work happening in states across the country! Find me around the conference if you want to chat about PEER and our work!

This morning, PEER's @claremccann.bsky.social provided comments to @usedgov.bsky.social on its upcoming rulemaking to implement reconciliation, pointing to this PEER Center report in arguing for strong gainful employment and transparency rules to complement the law: www.american.edu/spa/peer/acc...

The recent reconciliation law requires short-term programs to pass a tuition-to-earnings test -- tuition charged must not exceed graduates' typical earnings, less 150 percent of the poverty level. @PEERResearch.bsky.social wrote about how that metric might work. www.american.edu/spa/peer/wor...

@PEERResearch.bsky.social looked at the new income-driven repayment plan (RAP) in the reconciliation law, set to come online soon. Higher payments on the plan for the lowest-income borrowers will increase hardship among those living in poverty and increase defaults. www.american.edu/spa/peer/rev...

@usedgov.bsky.social is planning a rulemaking on #highered accountability. Check out @peerresearch.bsky.social analysis of which programs fall short of the new reconciliation law's standards: www.american.edu/spa/peer/upl.... For researchers looking to get involved in the process, reach out to PEER!

PEER's @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social spoke with @CalMatters.org about how recent changes to graduate #highered loan limits could affect California medical school students, who often borrow more (across medical school and annually) than the new limits will allow. calmatters.org/health/2025/...

@jdmatsudaira.bsky.social spoke with @mzinshteyn.bsky.social @CalMatters.org re lawmakers' recent changes to med-school loan limits, noting the shift will likely "make it less likely for some of those students to be able to pursue graduate degrees than they are now." calmatters.org/health/2025/...

The new #highered reconciliation law will extend Pell Grants to short-term programs -- just 8-15 weeks. The guardrails (minimum standards for job placement, completion rates, earnings) won't do enough to protect against low-quality programs. @srcellini.bsky.social www.american.edu/spa/peer/wor...

Every Tuesday AM, @claremccann.bsky.social @peerresearch.bsky.social shares our weekly "What We're Tracking" newsletter -- chock-full of state and federal #highered news, policy, and analysis. Sign up today and you'll be in the know tomorrow! peer-center.us12.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...

Congress just passed a reconciliation package that codifies a new standard for #highered programs -- check out our latest from @claremccann.bsky.social @tiacaldwell.bsky.social @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social to see which programs fall short and what the policy leaves out. www.american.edu/spa/peer/upl...

Elements of #highered reconciliation changes fare slated to take effect soon -- and @peerresearch.bsky.social is here to help you see what's coming. Visit peer-center.org /follow us to see what changes to repayment, grad loan limits, accountability, short-term Pell will mean.

PEER PRESS - The reduction in force order at the @usedgov.bsky.social (ED) will create growing issues, with real consequences for transparency. @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social expects the quality of ED data will suffer without the usual people and processes: www.bestcolleges.com/news/educati...

Want to stay up to date on #highered news and our research? Subscribe to our newsletters here: t.co/bZVthz3wZ8

Adjusting for inflation, allowing $0 payments for the lowest-income borrowers, and providing earlier forgiveness. These are just a few of our suggestions for changes to the Repayment Assistance Plan proposed by the House and Senate. Read more here: www.american.edu/spa/peer/rev...

@jdmatsudaira.bsky.social and @tiacaldwell.bsky.social found in an analysis for @marketwatch.com that at least $4.3 billion per year in graduate borrowing today falls above the House #reconciliation proposal's annual limits. Private lenders may step in. www.marketwatch.com/story/republ...

As Congress wraps up reconciliation, colleges will have to start to grapple with these changes – slated to take effect one year from now(!) @peerresearch.bsky.social will be out in the coming weeks with more analysis, and some options for loan limits that work better for borrowers & taxpayers. END/

Last, for completeness, the 11 doctoral fields that round out the top 50. Again - big financing gaps [and, very likely, reclassification as prof programs (which is why we're already showing the limit applicable for those progs)] are going to be the norm for many students across many fields. 11/

One caveat here-it’s not obvious that these master’s progs won’t end up being treated like prof progs ($50k annual limit for a $100k cumulative limit). Senate bill points to the reg definition (34 CFR 668.2) of ‘professional degree’. If Theology counts as a professional degree, what won’t?! 10/

Take MSW programs, where median borrowing across all programs is right at the $41,000 proposed limit. Even here, massive changes will be needed in how people pay for graduate school. Will private lenders be willing to make loans of $50-100k to finance this training? Will colleges lower prices? 9/

Masters programs will be more affected than you might guess. Look at the 30 biggest MA progs by loan volume. In most, more than half of grads will need private loans to get through! In all 30, upwards of 20% of grads currently borrow more from the fed govt than the proposed limits will allow. 8/

You might think within fields, the limits will affect only expensive private colleges. Nope. While some for-profit Caribbean schools top the list of affected programs for MD programs, even at programs at many public colleges the majority of grads will need private loans to finance their training. 7/

The focus on professional programs like MDs and dentists makes sense! The majority of borrowers in those fields are going to need private loans to make up for lost federal loans, and those loans are gonna be big! 6/

Borrowers are less likely to hit the aggregate limits in the Senate bill–most borrowers will instead have their aggregate balances limited by program length x annual limit [$41,000 for a 2-year MA, or $150,000 for a 3-year JD]. (With higher annual limits, aggregates mattered more in the House.) 5/

The Senate–which is most likely where the reconciliation process will land–proposed annual limits of $20,500 for grad or $50,000 for professional programs, and aggregate limits of $100,000 for grad or $200,000 for professional programs. 4/

Take the top 50 fields of study (i.e., credential level and major combinations) by loan volume, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all graduate borrowing. 30 of these are master’s programs, 11 are doctoral, and 9 are professional programs. 3/

@clibassi.bsky.social‬ and I have been working with administrative data on current borrowing levels -- a peek at a small slice of that data shows that in many fields *more than half* of borrowers will need to go to the private market to make up for lost federal loans. 2/

@jdmatsudaira.bsky.social looked at the new graduate loan limits in reconciliation and found some surprising implications -- follow along with @peerresearch.bsky.social for more info (and lots of charts)!

The Senate #highered accountability proposal excludes certain programs, disadvantaging students and taxpayers. Policymakers should ensure accountability for all programs, including taking steps to address the high costs that too many college programs charge. www.american.edu/spa/peer/acc...

PEER PRESS -- @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social finds the Senate’s #highered accountability proposal “sensible,” noting that low-earnings programs are most associated with loan defaults overall, but needs important fixes. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

From an upcoming PEER report on Senate HELP proposal: The bill explicitly excludes undergraduate certificate programs from accountability - problematic for the students who may enroll in low-value certificate programs, and nonsensical for policymakers seeking to prevent the waste of taxpayer dollars

Reducing licensing requirements for cosmetology schools raises completion rates and lowers tuition, without harming earnings. @srcellini.bsky.social, Katie J. Blanchard, and @nicolasacevedor.bsky.social explore their findings more here: www.nber.org/papers/w33936

RECONCILIATION WATCH: @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social, @tiacaldwell.bsky.social, @claremccann.bsky.social weigh in on the House’s risk-sharing framework. Read more about the impact of risk-sharing -- and another approach to IDing unaffordable programs without the pitfalls: www.american.edu/spa/peer/hou...

Check out some of @peerresearch.bsky.social's latest work by @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social @srcellini.bsky.social @tiacaldwell.bsky.social @claremccann.bsky.social at peer-center.org -- and follow us on LinkedIn for more updates! www.linkedin.com/company/post...

@peerresearch.bsky.social's @srcellini.bsky.social told @insidehighered.com that Congressional proposals to extend Pell Grants to short-term programs would "open the floodgates," and use "easily gameable" metrics for accountability. Read more: www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

@peerresearch.bsky.social is excited to announce today that @rajdarolia.bsky.social is now a Senior Fellow with the Center! You can learn more about Raj, and about the PEER Center, here: www.american.edu/spa/peer/tea.... #highered

A little research can tell us a lot about the possible impacts of expanding #Pell Grants to very short unaccredited #highered programs, as proposed in the House reconciliation bill.

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...

@jdmatsudaira.bsky.social of @peerresearch.bsky.social spoke with Matthew Arrojas @bestcolleges.bsky.social about cuts to the Ed. Dept.'s research arm, noting “there are big risks that we’re either going to see delays or a dip in quality” of #highered data. www.bestcolleges.com/news/educati...

I mentioned a few weeks ago that PEER has a weekly newsletter that I consider to be essential reading for anyone in higher ed policy (or anyone who works in higher ed who wants to keep up with policy news). Here's a link to sign up!