Giving Compass' Take:

•There are three higher education proposals to watch out for from the White House covering topics such as affordability, accountability, and innovation.

• How are donors impacted by education policy? Which issue will be the most important of the three proposals?

• Here are three misconceptions that could distort higher education policy.

Over the last three weeks, Washington has seen a flurry of activity around federal higher education policy. Updates to the Negotiated Rulemaking schedule will extend the negotiations on higher education accreditation and innovation into early April. The House Committee on Education & Labor held their first hearing on college costs, with four more hearings to come this spring. And, of course, everyone has (rightfully) become an expert on college admissions following the nation’s most shocking and maddening college entrance scandal.

Predictable themes around affordability, accountability and innovation dominated the headlines, but buried in the text are three key proposals to watch closely.

  1. President Trump is proposing to redraw the map for accreditors. Currently, accrediting agencies—the “gatekeepers” of federal financial aid and the entities responsible for “quality” across our higher education institutions—are designated by their national, regional or specialized functions.
  2. President Trump calls on Congress to reform the Federal Work Study program and ensure that the federal aid program “better aligns to workforce and career-oriented opportunities for low-income undergraduate students.”
  3. As previous administrations, and decades of legislative proposals, have called for, President Trump is pushing to simplify the awarding of financial aid by facilitating a data match between the Department of Education and the Department of Treasury (through the IRS).

Read the full article about higher education proposals by Alison Griffin at EdSurge.