At 19, Elizabeth Clews knew attending community college while balancing a full-time job and caring for a newborn would be hard. But she wanted to give it a shot. After a few months, the single mom, who had just exited the foster care system, realized she wasn’t doing well enough to pass her classes at…

Colleges and universities in at least eight states could lose a total of between $970 million and $1.3 billion in scholarship funding under a new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The states have been misusing funds from the federal welfare program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families that were intended to h...

Inside Higher Ed published a new special report, “Modernizing Postsecondary Policy to Better Support Adult Learners,” with insight provided by HLA’s Julie Peller, executive director, and Amy Ellen Duke-Benfield, managing director of policy and research. This free, print-on-demand report explores how current federal and state policies can ...

Fourteen thousand students dropped out of the Austin Community College District in Texas during the last two academic years. But the institution of more than 36,000 students has a plan to get some of them back. Supported by a $770,765 Education Department grant, that plan involves reaching out to students and connecting them with career…

Ivy League colleges are under growing pressure to broaden their student base by using admission policies that increase the proportion of low- and moderate-income students on campuses and raise their rate of socioeconomic mobility. A new report, released Tuesday by the HEA Group, a research and consulting firm focused on college access and success, ...

“President Joe Biden pledged to double the maximum Pell Grant by 2029, but his recent debt ceiling deal is seemingly at odds with that plan. Biden’s deal struck with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy places spending caps on discretionary spending for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Factoring in projected inflation over the next two years, the ...

Executive Director Julie Peller is included in the Education section of Washingtonian’s Washington DC’s 500 Most Influential People list. The feature includes experts and advocates outside the government who are playing big roles in Washington, D.C.’s policy debates. Julie is recognized for her years of experience on Capitol Hill and helping ...

Measuring ROI in Higher Education “In this episode, Dr. Jason Altmire talks with Julie Peller of Higher Learning Advocates about accountability, ROI in higher education, and the future of the for-profit sector. Julie Peller is the Executive Director of Higher Learning Advocates. She also served as the Deputy Staff Director for the House C...