Andrew P. Kelly is the director of the Center on Higher Education Reform and a resident scholar in education policy studies at AEI.
This is an edited transcript of comments delivered by Mr. Kelly at the 2015 Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Symposium on “The Future of Higher Education” June 3 in Washington D.C.The event was co-sponsored by the Ethics and Public Policy Center and National Affairs. You can read the full transcript of the symposium here. Three trends are complicating […]
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By Andrew P. Kelly and Awilda Rodriguez Last fall, President Obama unveiled a controversial plan to promote college affordability by changing the way the federal government distributes student financial aid. The proposal calls for a new system of federal college ratings that would measure how well colleges perform on measures of access, affordability, and student […]
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In a wide-ranging policy address on Tuesday, Utah Senator Mike Lee laid out a proposal to change how the federal government regulates access to more than $150 billion in student financial aid. Since 1965, the federal government has farmed this gate-keeping job out to third-party accreditation agencies that are closely allied with existing higher education institutions. So […]
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Andrew P. Kelly and KC Deane Despite our better instincts, we looked at Andrew Leonard’s recent piece on the conservative plot to “wreck higher-ed.” He begins with an oft-heard although accurate lament about public colleges: state funding is decreasing while costs and prices continue to climb. However, Leonard’s argument quickly veers into conspiracy-land: There’s a […]
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This past Monday, the Department of Education proposed “gainful employment” rules that will regulate postsecondary vocational programs, primarily those offered by for-profit colleges, on the basis of their graduates’ ability to pay back their federal student loans. Proponents of higher education reform should welcome this move, but not because it targets unscrupulous actors in the […]
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From the beginning, Frontline’s new documentary College, Inc seems tailor-made to scare the living daylights out of the series’ presumably progressive audience. Viewers are first introduced to Michael Clifford, an “educational entrepreneur” without a college degree who buys up struggling colleges and resurrects them as for-profit companies. Clifford is not only making a fortune off […]
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