Insights & Outlooks
I’m Not Wonder Woman: A Student Parent’s Story
“There’s never enough time!” As a parent and student, I say this to myself nearly every semester, but yet I keep signing up for a full course load. I guess I must be a glutton for punishment, as I barely have free time to begin with without the added pressures of taking four classes. You…
State and Federal Cooperation Can Improve Higher Education Quality
A truth that many of us are taught from a young age is the ability to work well with others is a critical component to success. One consistent life lesson is to develop and nurture a skill set and internal compass that allow us to collectively assemble multiple parts and skills for the benefit of…
Aaron Thompson’s Journey from Childhood Poverty to Kentucky’s SHEEO
“Too many of our students see college as a foreign place that wasn’t designed for them. They hear about it, they went to many schools that they felt disenfranchised in. College just becomes a bigger foreign place to feel disenfranchised in. We need students to feel empowered to maneuver, to self-advocate and put themselves in…
Partnering to Improve Student Success in Central New Mexico: A Q&A with Angelo Gonzales
Insights & Outlooks: What do you think distinguishes or differentiates the role that a community-based organization like United Way of Central New Mexico can play in supporting student success at the local level? Angelo Gonzales: As the Chief Strategy Officer at United Way of Central New Mexico (UWCNM), I direct all of our grantmaking and&helli...
Balancing Quality with Innovation: Key Issues at Stake in Negotiated Rulemaking
This month, watchers of higher ed policy were busy with talk of negotiated rulemaking (or “neg reg”), as the U.S. Department of Education kicked off a series of significant proposed regulatory changes with far-reaching consequences. Federal law requires the Department to follow this complicated process in order to make any regulatory changes to...
101: Negotiated Rulemaking
The Higher Education Act (HEA) requires the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to use the negotiated rulemaking process in order to make any changes to programs authorized under Title IV of the HEA, the section that administers more than $130 billion annually through federal student financial aid programs. Starting January 15, 2019 ED will begin&hel...
An Inspired Community College Leader’s Rise from Poverty to the Presidency
With more than 30 years of experience in higher education, Dr. Tonjua Williams is recognized nationally as an expert in student development. She has a passion for helping others realize their potential and has made it her personal mission to do so through her community outreach and higher education career. “I believe everybody’s worth the&helli...
A Year in Review: Reflections on 2018 and the Year Ahead
As 2018 comes to a close, I can’t help but look back at what turned out to be a dynamic and fascinating year of developments in higher education policy and practice and look forward to the year ahead. As federal policymakers and advocates are working toward updating major laws—including the Higher Education Act—and regulations, consider&helli...