How New Policies May Shape the Future of American Higher Education: Thoughts from a recent webinar

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In this episode, I share a few takeaways on post-election landscape with insights from Ted Mitchell and Michelle Asher Cooper from a recent webinar: Post-Election Outlook: What to Watch in Higher Education. I talk about what I heard from these experts from the American Council on Education and the Lumina Foundation, and the potential impact of the new Republican administration. They focused on possible shifts in accreditation standards and their critical implications for financial aid. I share insights from this thought-provoking webinar, featuring experts who are cautiously optimistic about navigating these changes while maintaining the resilience of educational institutions. 

Join me, Jen Schoen, as we question the media's portrayal of higher education value and confidence, highlighted by surprising poll results where 90% of Americans still hold higher education in high regard. We discuss the dire consequences of small and regional college closures on first-gen and low-income students. Michelle Asher Cooper's emphasis on listening to communities and scrutinizing congressional leadership priorities offers a hopeful outlook, even as the challenges loom large. This episode is a must-listen for educators and students preparing to face the evolving educational landscape.

Please help others find this podcast by rating and reviewing wherever you listen!

You can find me at https://www.firstgenfm.com/ and on LinkedIn. My email is [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome and welcome back to the First Gen FM podcast
, where we high school andcollege educators strengthen,
celebrate and supportfirst-generation college and
college-bound students.
I'm Jennifer Schoen, your host.
Please call me Jen.
I'd love it if you could leavea review and a rating for this
podcast to help other educatorsfind us.
Thank you so much for takingthe time to do that.

(00:27):
Now let's dive into this week'sepisode.
Thanks for joining me.
Today.
I have a podcast all about awebinar that I got to listen to
from some amazing people who areexperts, and we're talking a
lot about what comes next.
So it's a solo episode todayand we're going to explore how

(00:48):
three experts think the newadministration that means the
new incoming Republicanadministration might impact
students and the institutionsthat are dedicated to serving
them.
These insights come from aconversation among three experts
in a webinar calledPost-Election Outlook what to
Watch in Higher Education.
That took place on November18th, so it's still fresh in my

(01:19):
mind Ted Mitchell, president ofthe American Council on
Education, and Michelle AsherCooper, who's the vice president
for public policy and executivedirector of Lumina's DC office,
and I just want to share a fewof the talking points that I
found interesting.
The very first thing theytalked about was the incoming

(01:45):
president and the vice presidenthave both stated that they
would love to take awayaccreditation from the
institutions that they findunworthy I'm using air quotes
there for a variety of reasonsis that accreditation agencies

(02:07):
hold the power right now tomaintain these educational
standards and that, again, atthe moment the president cannot
unilaterally unaccredit aninstitution.
So they felt that educatorsneed to be aware of potential
changes in accreditation systemsand standards because of the
shifting rhetoric aroundinstitutions and universities,
and the expert panel feltassured that these agencies are

(02:29):
equipped to handle the upcomingchallenges.
That is, the accreditationagencies.
Ted Mitchell, one of thepanelists, though, highlights in
his statement that a lot ofspears are pointed at us, so
there's going to be some intensescrutiny, and yet he has
optimism for resilience in theface of these challenges.

(02:52):
So I thought that those weresome interesting points about
accreditation, and of course, weknow that accreditation is
important for financial aid andfor our students for first-gen
students, especially anystudents from low-income
backgrounds that financial aidis going to be crucial.
So it'll be interesting to seehow all this plays out and I use

(03:13):
the word interesting, althoughI could use scary, frightening
in that as well.
Another point that they made wastalking about public confidence
and institutional leadership.
Now Michelle shared that,according to a recent Lumina
poll that they did with Gallup,that 90% of Americans value

(03:34):
higher education, which iscontrary to what you read in
kind of the media.
She was talking about howparents do want their children
to have a degree and acredential post high school.
She also pointed out that only33% of those surveyed maintain
confidence in the system ofhigher education.

(03:55):
So this sentiment, as we know,can really impact
first-generation students andtheir families, who may already
feel uncertain about theireducational path and that
continuing their education isout of reach financially and
academically.
So what's being talked aboutout there?
What people are talking aboutthe confidence and what's being
promoted is people have lostfaith in higher education is not

(04:20):
necessarily true, but has a bigimpact on our students.
Not necessarily true, but has abig impact on our students.
I'd also add that as more smalland regional institutions are
closing or consolidating, Ithink first-gen students and
students from lower-incomebackgrounds will have greater
difficulty going to collegebecause they often have family
and financial considerationsthat want them to stay close to

(04:42):
home for their college degree.
So that's a little worrisome.
They didn't talk about that,but it made me think of that as
I was listening to them.
I thought Michelle was great inthat she stressed the need to
actively listen to thesecommunities who don't have
confidence in higher ed, and towatch congressional leadership
selections mainly to understandthe implications of their

(05:04):
priorities and the rhetoric.
And then we need to ask ifthese leaders will maintain or
roll back the existing policies.
I think we have some idea whatthat might be.
But again, michelle was holdingon to some optimism.
Institutions are really goingto have to communicate changes
clearly to the public, I think,to assuage anxieties with their

(05:24):
current students as well asfuture students and families,
and so when changes are comingup, I think we as institutions,
as people at the institutions,need to be more clear as to why
we're doing what we're doing andwhy it is important, especially
when there are changes andespecially with the people we
know who are having, who arequestioning our worth in higher

(05:49):
ed and who are questioning whythey should trust the system of
higher ed.
The third point they talkedabout was policy regulations and
some financial dynamics.
So the incoming administration,as this group talked about, had
proposed several tax changesthat could have a direct impact

(06:10):
on colleges, one of the mainones being increasing the
endowment tax to 30%, which is asignificant increase.
Potential cuts to financial aidand Pell Grants could
disproportionately affectfirst-gen students reliant on
these funds, and there's also alot of rhetoric around taxing
nonprofits, which, of course,many colleges and research

(06:32):
centers are nonprofit entities.
This could mean, of course,that we would face increased tax
burdens and, if that happens,institutions are going to need
to make difficult decisions onfinancial aid and funding for
the kinds of programs thatsupport our students the
first-gen programs, the veteranprograms, programs for

(06:54):
low-income students and forother marginalized groups and
for other marginalized groups.
As educators, I know we knowthis, but it's really important
that we keep informed andcontinue to advocate for
policies prioritizingaffordability and access to
ensure that the funding remainsrobust for the students who are
most in need, and for us to dothis nationally, statewide and

(07:15):
locally at our universities,talking to our own leadership,
statewide and locally at ouruniversities, talking to our own
leadership.
I wish I had actual answers tothese, but I have more questions
than I do anything, and I againjust want to have this podcast
here to share with you what Ilearned from this webinar, their

(07:36):
fourth out of the five points.
They talked aboutaccountability and both Michelle
and Ted talked about developingconsistent outcome measures as
colleges and universities,aligned with our individual
institutional missions, anddiscussed those things, those
outcome measures, as beingessential for transparency and
for ensuring institutions meetthe needs of all students.

(07:58):
They highly suggested I think,michelle in particular that we
as institutions be proactiveabout developing these measures
ourselves before others do itfor us, and they thought that
would stand in really good steadpublicly to put out there.
These are the goals that we'reshooting for, these are the

(08:18):
outcomes that we're shooting for.
These are the outcomes that weare working towards.
Here's how we're doing alongthem to add to that
accountability that highereducation institutions are
accountable.
Michelle spoke about encouragingaccountability and maintaining
optimism, again to attempt tocreate opportunities for
bipartisan support, and I haveto say that she was hopeful but

(08:40):
realistic, given the harmful anddangerous rhetoric that the
incoming administration has beenespousing.
So she advocates for educatorsto both model and demand
proactive leadership, with thehope that we don't just go into
a defensive mode but that weaddress the real concerns about
student outcomes, entry into theworkforce, entry into grad

(09:02):
school and showing that we do,in higher education want to be
accountable to all of ourstudents and the hope would be
that our students, including ourfirst generation students,
would see the value in theireducational journey and what
we're going for, why they'rehere, even amidst any political
nastiness that comes about.
And the fifth and final pointthat they talked about was

(09:26):
bipartisanship and workforcedevelopment.
They believe there's a generalagreement on the significance of
workforce development.
That especially everyone lovesthe words accountability and
workforce development.
However, in practice, it oftenskews.
Partisan Initiatives supportingveterans in higher education

(09:47):
highlight potential bipartisansuccesses, although Project 2025
documents indicate somepossible threats to veterans'
benefits, which could includethe GI Bill and assistance for
going to college, so that'ssomething to be wary of.
I suppose I would sayFirst-generation students can be

(10:09):
particularly impacted duringupcoming and potentially rapid
decision-making legislativesessions, like this upcoming
lame duck period, wheredecisions about Pell Grants and
defense authorizations affectingveterans in college could
swiftly evolve and could bepassed or not passed without a
lot of input conversationbecause of the speed that

(10:33):
they're being considered and thepackages they're being put in,
sometimes snuck in to be part ofand sometimes outright just put
in so that they get throughmore quickly.
There's one bill in particular,that they spoke about the CTA or
the College Transparency Act.
The CTA promises transparency,which every panelist on this
conversation in this webinaragrees is a good thing for

(10:56):
higher education, but the billdoes include some less tenable
provisions.
Let's say, one of theseprovisions in particular ties
accountability to college loandefault rates, and the problem,
as the panelists discussed, isthat this provision, this
provision could incentivizecolleges to enroll students who

(11:18):
are least likely to default onloans and we know that the
admissions process kind ofalready skews towards more
affluent students, students whocan pay full or most of their
tuition, room and board, booksand fees, etc.
And it could discourageinstitutions from enrolling
at-risk students or students whoare coming from first-gen

(11:40):
backgrounds, children ofimmigrants and students from
lower income backgrounds, andthis provision alone really
could be devastating for thosecolleges who do the good work
serving a high percentage ofstudents who fall into those
first-gen Pell-eligible,children of immigrants or
immigrants groups who areserving those groups in

(12:01):
particular.
So this College TransparencyAct is worrisome because, as I
said, it has some things a lotof people agree on and that some
, in particular this provisionthat others are really seeing as
a danger sign for higher ed.

(12:21):
So, in closing.
I think, though, people mightnot ask us for our view of the
College Transparency Act orother congressional and
executive branch actions.
I'm thinking it's now even moreimportant for us to stay
informed, to model for ourstudents how we find accurate
and respected sources ofinformation, and to understand

(12:42):
how these legislative changesand institutional shifts can
impact our first-generationcollege students and all of the
students that we serve.
I know that by continuing toadvocate for equitable policies,
we can play a crucial andproactive role in ensuring our
amazing and worthy studentsthrive in higher ed, and I know

(13:03):
that our voices can make adifference, even though we might
not be the loudest voices, butwe are going to be the most
consistent voices and persistentvoices.
So thank you for joining me forthis episode, this kind of
different episode of First GenFM, and stay tuned as we
continue to explore thesecritical conversations as we

(13:27):
move forward into the new year,and to join me for when I talk
to my guests.
I would love it if you couldleave a review so that others
can find it, if you would sharethis and any of the other
episodes with people who areworking with college bound or in
college first gen students,with college-bound or in-college

(13:47):
first-gen students.
And, of course, I'm alwayshappy to hear from you at Jen
that's J-E-N at firstgenfmcomwith your ideas for episodes.
If you'd like to be on theepisode and share what you're
doing with first-gen students,or you just want to leave me a
comment, I would reallyappreciate that.
Thank you so much and have agreat week.