Postsecondary Policy

Decisions by elected and appointed leaders at the state and federal levels have real and far-reaching impact on colleges and universities seeking to transform themselves to be more equity focused and student centered. Actions in state capitals and in Washington, D.C. also have direct consequences for today’s students as they strive to achieve their educational goals.

Our policy priorities, investments, and activities are guided by our North Star: eliminating race, ethnicity, and income as predictors of educational success.

Higher Ed Budgets for the Post-COVID Era

This report, produced in collaboration with Lumina Foundation, offers design principles and examples of practices shown to be effective for state policymakers as they grapple with difficult decisions about funding colleges and universities and student aid now and into the future.
Read the Report

Investment Priorities

We focus on improving outcomes for Black, Latino, and Indigenous students and students from low-income backgrounds across three areas:
Finance
For institutions, this includes funding formulas and policies, as well as accountability for use of that funding. For students, this includes access to and allocation of financial aid as well as debt repayment and forgiveness.
Data
This includes connecting and improving existing federal and state systems to create usable information that reflects all students in all institutions while maintaining security and privacy.
Pathways
At the federal level, this includes strengthening connections between education and the workforce. State-level priorities include support for expanding the use of proven practices such as developmental education redesign and streamlining credit transfer.
Our work in states focuses on California, Florida, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. These states collectively enroll 40 percent of all postsecondary students in the United States and have pioneered new approaches for funding, delivering, and measuring outcomes for today’s students.