Congress hasn’t reauthorized the Higher Education Act in more than 15 years, leaving major issues in college affordability, accountability, and access to be addressed through temporary measures or executive action. In this episode, Jeff Selingo and Michael Horn talk with James Kvaal, former Under Secretary of Education, and Preston Cooper, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, about why higher education has largely fallen off the congressional agenda and what it would take to bring it back. They explore the risks of relying on executive action, opportunities for bipartisan reform, and the need for a modern federal framework that supports today’s postsecondary landscape, including more flexible pathways beyond the traditional four-year degree.
“If we were to have some reform happen at the federal level that were to level the playing field a little bit with regard to federal funding for these different kinds of postsecondary education pathways, that could really open up opportunity for a lot of students,” Cooper said.