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The Hill
22-07-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Graduate wage data can help restore public trust in higher education
President Trump's 'big, beautiful' budget reconciliation bill is now law, marking a watershed moment for higher education policy and renewing the debate about how to evaluate the return on investment of a college degree. College presidents, myself included, are accustomed to communicating the many benefits of their institutions, Yet it is also true that our sector has often resisted measuring and improving the financial returns of a college degree. Under the new policy framework adopted by Congress, it will no longer be possible for leaders to snub such disclosures. Despite the discomfort it will cause, I am hopeful that this policy transition will restore the public's trust in higher education through methods like those that Colorado Mountain College — the institution I lead — has employed for more than 10 years. Methods to measure the return on investment of a college degree have existed for decades. Nearly 40 years ago, my mentor Larry Leslie published the book 'The Economic Value of Higher Education.' When I studied under him a decade later, calculating social and economic returns was routine and not particularly controversial, as student debt was relatively low and most college degrees provided noteworthy positive results (they still do). More recently, the costs of college and average debt loads have grown dramatically, as has the pressure to demonstrate results. Despite these shifts, the active use of labor market data among higher education practitioners remains uncommon. Michael Itzkowitz, former director of the College Scorecard, describes higher education leaders as going through the 'five stages of grief' when confronted with the economic outcomes of their former students. Through my experience working in state government and now, as the president of a public institution, I have witnessed this firsthand. I distinctly recall being on the receiving end of one college executive dismissing a report my team and I prepared as 'lies.' Another prominent researcher called our findings 'deeply harmful,' arguing such data might discourage students from pursuing public-service degrees with lower financial returns. Labor market data is not deceitful. It is silent on the quality of academic programs, but it can reveal an uncomfortable reality: Students often end up with vastly different outcomes depending on their field of study and the type of credential they pursue. My home state of Colorado was one of the first to match the records of college graduates with post-graduation wages. This data-driven approach has informed educational policy for years, but it is seldom used at the institutional level. At our college, access to good-paying jobs isn't a luxury — it's essential. Our 11 campuses serve high-cost, rural-resort communities where many students work multiple jobs just to afford basic living expenses. For them, college is a pathway to financial stability and family security. Our students must weigh daily the varying opportunity costs of attending class or picking up an additional shift at work. Nearly a decade ago, we embraced this reality and began using 'labor market-aware' practices. We incorporated initiatives to better align our certificates and degrees to match critical local economic realities. From dental hygienists and nurses to first responders and specialists in addiction treatment, the school invests in programs that allow graduates to achieve economic stability. We don't create new programs unless they enable graduates to earn good jobs in our communities. The 'big, beautiful' law will, among many other things, tie federal funding to labor market outcomes at degree programs across the U.S. This new political reality may be disorienting to some schools, but given the rising costs of college, the ease with which students can accumulate significant debt and families' resulting worries about college affordability, it should surprise no one. Fortunately, labor market data is increasingly available, as higher education organizations, federal agencies and state governments have been analyzing, publishing and disseminating it for years. For the most part, the foundation is built, we just need to use it. Some national organizations provide accessible data on post-graduate earnings, identifying which institutions and programs produce strong outcomes and drive upward mobility — and which do not. Their work with states is helping scale these insights, filling a crucial gap in public understanding. The American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation also recently unveiled a new classification system that introduces labor market outcomes, giving policymakers and institutional leaders a new lens on social economic mobility, which should be a central goal of every college. As an educational economist and college leader, I embrace statistics — even those figures that make presidents a little queasy — and am accountable for demonstrating positive outcomes for all interested parties. Without question, wages aren't the only outcomes worth evaluating, but I believe that the active use of labor market data will create transparency that will go a long way toward restoring the public's trust in our institutions. I have questions about whether the Department of Education has sufficient capacity to manage program-level accountability. But I know that college presidents love their institutions and will do what is needed to deliver positive outcomes for their graduates. This moment is an opportunity for us to lead, to play offense and stop playing defense — and to reclaim higher education's status as America's preeminent investment opportunity for enabling economic growth and mobility. Matt Gianneschi is president of Colorado Mountain College, a local district Hispanic-Serving Institution with 11 campuses across the state.
Newsweek
05-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Student Loan Collections Resume Today: What You Need To Know
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Student loan collections resume for millions of Americans as of Monday, after the Department of Education officially ended the five-year, COVID-era pause. With nearly 10 million borrowers facing a current or impending default, a large portion of the country could soon experience abrupt financial pressure as the Treasury Department-led aggressive loan collection program commences. Why Are Student Loan Payments Resuming? In its April 21 announcement, the Department of Education said that resuming collections would protect taxpayers "from shouldering the cost of federal student loans that borrowers willingly undertook to finance their postsecondary education." "American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies," Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said. "The Biden administration misled borrowers: the executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear. File photo: Graduates of Colorado Mountain College wait to receive their diploma during the Commencement of the Class of 2022 on May 6, 2022 in Beaver Creek, Colorado. File photo: Graduates of Colorado Mountain College wait to receive their diploma during the Commencement of the Class of 2022 on May 6, 2022 in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily via AP While federal student loans typically default after 270 days, none has been subject to collection since March 2020. The Trump-era pause was extended several times by the Biden administration, which also canceled loans for over 5 million borrowers worth nearly $190 billion. The Department of Education is now urging those in default to begin making monthly payments or enroll in a suitable payment plan. In addition to voluntary repayment plans, the resumption of collections will include involuntary measures such as wage garnishment, tax refund seizures, and reductions in Social Security benefits. How Much Student Loan Debt Is There? The Department of Education says 42.7 million borrowers currently owe over $1.6 trillion in student debt. Some 5 million of these borrowers have not made a monthly payment in over a year and are in default. An additional 4 million borrowers are in "late stage delinquency," and about to default on late payments, which the department says means "almost 10 million" are now at risk of getting wages garnished or tax refunds withheld. The "Treasury Offset Program" will target IRS tax refunds, social security benefit payments, as well as Railroad and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) retirement benefits. File photo: Education Secretary Linda McMahon does a television interview at the White House, April 16, 2025 in Washington, D.C. File photo: Education Secretary Linda McMahon does a television interview at the White House, April 16, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Alex Brandon/AP Photo Student Loan Borrower Assistance states that the government will only be permitted to seize a tax refund that has not yet been sent to the taxpayer, meaning those who have already received refunds will not be at risk of a seizure until 2026. The Department of Education said it will not begin garnishing paychecks until after the 30-day garnishment notices are sent out "later this summer." Which Repayment Plan Will You Be Placed On? To exit default, borrowers have two main options. One is loan rehabilitation, which involves making nine consecutive monthly payments set by the loan servicer, and which can erase a default from borrowers' records if they make this series of required payments within a set period. A faster option is loan consolidation, which lets borrowers merge multiple defaulted loans into one Direct Consolidation Loan. This enables them to promptly join an income-driven repayment plan and start making monthly payments. All borrowers in default should have received communications from the Office of Federal Student Aid at some point over the past two weeks. These urge them to contact the Default Resolution Group to arrange monthly payments, join an income-driven repayment plan, or sign up for loan rehabilitation. Borrowers can visit to check their status and see what repayment plans are available.
CBS News
30-04-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Art exhibit in Colorado mountain towns put fentanyl dangers in spotlight
Health and law enforcement officials are trying to dispel both myths and the stigma surrounding the dangers of fentanyl with an art exhibit. The Fentanyl Awareness Art Exhibition is "designed to raise awareness about the opioid crisis, particularly the devastating impact of fentanyl." CBS It's part of an effort to educate the public about fentanyl and that it is commonly mixed into other drugs that continue to cause overdoses. "We like to talk about this chocolate chip cookie analogy. When you have a chocolate chip cookie, sometimes you have a bite and it has no chocolate chips in it. So there was no fentanyl and nobody overdosed from that bite. But the next bite might be all chocolate chips," said Summit County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Schilling. CBS Fentanyl is an extremely potent drug that health experts say only takes a 2mg dose, about the size of five grains of salt, to be deadly. The art exhibit is on display April 30-June 3 at Theatre SilCo in Silverthorne, June 5-July 9 at Colorado Mountain College in Breckenridge, July 11-Aug. 13 at the Community and Senior Center in Frisco, Aug. 15-Oct. 8 at Colorado Mountain College in Dillon and Oct. 10-Nov. 5 at Summit High School in Breckenridge.
