Twice a year, a body of accreditation experts known as NACIQI–the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity–gathers in a windowless conference space to debate the finer points of accreditation. And for the last two years, NACIQI members have come prepared with data on student outcomes to ask accreditors why some...

Barbara Damron was not only the first in her family to go to college, she was the first to go to high school. Driven by a passion for public policy-making and a calling for helping others, Secretary Damron’s health care career spanned more than 25 years, including work as an advanced practice nurse, educator, scientist,…

Policy matters, and it played an important role in Michele Siqueiros’ life. Effective college affordability policies provided her with an opportunity to go to college and ultimately get her master’s degree. This kickstarted a series of life-altering experiences that led her down a career dedicated toward improving policy and social mobility thr...

A college degree or certificate is ever more necessary in today’s economy; an estimated 65 percent of available jobs by 2020 will require some education or training beyond high school. The promise to students is that postsecondary education will set them up to obtain a job within their field and embark on a successful career…

Like many of “today’s students” who are working adults and come from diverse backgrounds, Mike Krause had to fight for a degree. An eighth generation Tennessean, Mike joined the U.S. Army at age 18 after spending six months attending a local community college. He served a total of eight years in the U.S. Army and…

Today, everyone from higher education leaders and practitioners, to employers, and, most importantly, students themselves is asking a critical question: How can higher education be more directly related to jobs students want? An answer in Washington, D.C. is to broaden our thinking of “higher education” to include shorter-term and more work-c...

In today’s higher education landscape, quality has become the most important watchword as institutions navigate new accountability policies and regulations while new providers hope to demonstrate their efficacy and impact with students. For today’s students, quality is much more than an abstract concept: it translates to their prospects for car...

Policy Update: HEA Recommendations We are just two full months into 2018, and critical conversations around postsecondary education are moving forward at the federal level. Higher Learning Advocates has continued its efforts to advance common-sense policy reforms designed to improve outcomes, upgrade quality, and build a system of higher learning t...