Digital Summit: Higher Education Policy Responses to COVID-19

Michelle Asha Cooper
President, Institute for Higher Education Policy

Too many Americans begin college and never earn a degree, a trend that the fallout from COVID-19 is likely to exacerbate. Expanding federal funding for microgrants, small amounts of cash assistance to students for unanticipated financial shocks, could help keep more students on the path to graduation. This funding should be directed to institutions that serve large numbers of Black, Latino, and low-income students, who already face disproportionate and unique barriers to degree completion.

Iris Palmer
Senior Advisor for Higher Education and Workforce, New America

As COVID-19 runs its course, states are going to be under extraordinary pressure to cut their higher education budgets. At the same time, institutions are processing refunds for room and board while facing enrollment uncertainty. The higher education system needs a massive influx of cash—beyond what was included in the CARES Act—to avoid large increases in tuition costs for students. A federal-state partnership would provide this support through direct block grants to states, with a federal match encouraging states to sustain investment in their higher education systems. This approach should incorporate a maintenance of effort provision that, as proposed by The Institute for College Access & Success, would be waived if unemployment rates rose above a certain level. Moving forward, this partnership could include building up a rainy-day fund, like the one BPC recommends, to further smooth out funding gaps.

Andrew Gillen
Senior Policy Analyst, Texas Public Policy Foundation

It is too early to know whether this crisis will require a fundamental restructuring of higher education, so preserving flexibility is key. Tying up all available resources in existing education patterns will inhibit the ability to make big changes down the line. Rather than funding institutions, states should convert to a model closer to what is being done at the federal level by disbursing money to students. The accreditation process requires flexibility too, as this crisis may create a need for new institutions to emerge in an evolved higher education environment.

Joanna Darcus
Staff Attorney, National Consumer Law Center

The economic fallout from COVID-19 will only exacerbate the challenges many borrowers face in paying off their student loans. Currently, borrowers in distress—including many low-wage workers—can have their tax refunds seized. Allowing student borrowers to keep their tax refund would create a student loan safety net by providing a necessary cash infusion to those struggling the most. This direct relief has been provided as a short-term response to COVID-19, but making it permanent would serve to mitigate the student loan default crisis.

Tiffany Jones
Senior Director of Higher Education Policy, The Education Trust

Although the virus is widespread, its impact will disproportionately weigh on Black people and lower-income individuals due to preexisting inequalities. With too many borrowers already defaulting on their student loans, equity-driven debt forgiveness is a necessary response to the COVID-19 crisis. There are a variety of proposals to consider in structuring this program, but it is important to prioritize relief for those who need it most. Even a small amount of forgiveness could dramatically help Americans weather the financial implications of this crisis.

Michael Rose
Director of Government Relations, National Association for College Admission Counseling

Ensuring continued state and federal investment in higher education needs to be a priority moving forward. The state budget cuts from the Great Recession still endure, and they are only likely to get worse as a result of the current crisis. State and federal resources should be used to keep costs down, prioritizing need-based aid over loans to reduce barriers for low-income students. This should be coupled with accountability mechanisms to protect students and taxpayers from unscrupulous institutions.

Mark Schneider
Director, Institute of Education Sciences

Institutions will need to make tough decisions about the size and distribution of faculty and staff as state budgets tighten, tuition revenue declines, and endowments tumble. But, under the current IPEDS system, administrative bloat is hard to measure. IPEDS data should be expanded to count and classify college administrators. This would clarify spending toward instructional staff, which could include those in academic technology (as the system moves toward an online learning environment).

Robert Kelchen
BPC Fellow; Associate Professor, Seton Hall University

With the current COVID-19 crisis and ongoing uncertainty in the higher education system, colleges are going to need help with short-term liquidity. Recognizing that the private credit market could freeze as it did in 2008, the solution could be a revolving line of credit made available to colleges that struggle to access the private market. The system also needs to better prepare for college closure, including by reducing regulatory burdens to encourage mergers and acquisitions and by requiring institutions to have teach out plans, which would reduce stigma and protect students in the event of a closure.