Browsing by Author "Blagg, Kristin"
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- Disconnected from Higher Education: How Geography and Internet Speed Limit Access to Higher EducationRosenboom, Victoria; Blagg, Kristin (Urban Institute, 2018-01-01)Approximately 3 million American adults lack access to higher education based on where they live. These people live more than 25 miles from a broad-access public university and do not have access to the high-speed internet connection needed for online education. This work examines how many students (who are physically isolated from higher education) have the opportunity to access online education and how many are still isolated. Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), we identify three types of education deserts: physical education desert only, online education desert only, and both a physical and online education desert.
- Evaluating the Return on Investment in Higher EducationBlom, Erica; Blagg, Kristin (Urban Institute, 2018-09-01)The growing availability of new data has pushed state policymakers to increasingly consider the return on investment of higher education. In this report, they highlight key components of the return to higher education investments for both individual students and state taxpayers. By synthesizing research on how the value of education is realized at both individual and societal levels, the authors demonstrate that state policymakers may want to look beyond measures of individual and aggregate return on investment; they may also want to focus on mitigating risks for students and improving outcomes for specific student populations.
- Mapping Student Needs during COVID-19Blagg, Kristin; Blom, Erica; Gallagher, Megan; Rainer, Macy (Urban Institute, 2020-04-01)Staff, teachers, and students experienced rapid change as school buildings closed in March 2020 because of the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. In this report, the authors use American Community Survey (ACS) data to highlight different types of challenges to remote learning and point to district and educator strategies that might mitigate harm to students as districts navigate long-term school closures. Although many families will face unique circumstances and obstacles, they focus on six factors in addition to poverty: linguistic isolation, child disability status, parents in vulnerable economic sectors, single parents, crowded conditions, and lack of computer or broadband access. They describe the difficulties each circumstance presents and potential solutions for school districts.
- Out of the Education Desert: How Limited Local College Options are Associated with Inequity in Postsecondary OpportunitiesKlasik, Daniel; Blagg, Kristin; Pekor, Zachary (Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA), 2018-08-01)The U.S. has a stratified hierarchy of college and universities. Consequences of this stratification include large disparities in the returns to higher education between levels of postsecondary institutions, and gaps by race and income in terms of where students enroll that, together, have the potential to reproduce long standing social inequality. The authors study one potential cause associated with enrollment disparities: the uneven geographic distribution of colleges around the U.S. They find that students in access deserts are more likely to apply to and enroll in colleges farther away from home than students who have more readily available college options. In contrast, students in match deserts are less likely to apply to and enroll in academically-matched institutions. Finally, the authors discuss the equity implications of these findings and make recommendations for policy and future research.
- Reshaping Parent PLUS Loans: Recommendations for Reforming the Parent PLUS ProgramBaum, Sandy; Blagg, Kristin; Fishman, Rachel (Urban Institute, 2019-04-01)The use of Parent PLUS loans—federal loans for parents of dependent undergraduates—is increasing, even as student borrowing is declining. Parent PLUS loans were originally designed to provide liquidity to high-asset families who could not cover their expected family contributions (EFCs) with current income. But policymakers have pushed the Parent PLUS program past this original mission. Now, just 38 percent of Parent PLUS loans are equal to or less than the family’s EFC, and loans are too frequently issued to borrowers who cannot repay. In this article, the authors argue that stopgap solutions, such as expanding income-driven repayment (IDR) for Parent PLUS borrowers, will only worsen the problem, providing large subsidies to affluent families. They propose returning to the program’s original intent, lending limited amounts to parents who can repay and providing additional financial aid directly to low-income students, rather than to their parents.
- Rethinking Consumer Information in Higher EducationBlagg, Kristin; Chingos, Matthew M.; Graves, Claire; Nicotera, Anna (Urban Institute, 2017-07-01)Providing better information on college quality to potential students and their families is a major focus of bipartisan higher education policy efforts. These efforts have focused on labor market outcomes, such as employment rates and average earnings, as indicators of college quality. Several state governments have published data on labor market outcomes by program of study (e.g., engineering) at different institutions within the state. This report summarizes the results of a three-year effort aimed at assessing the demand for and impact of program-level information on labor market outcomes. The authors developed an informational tool that displays academic major-level earnings and other key data points (including the average price charged, customized based on the user’s family income), piloted the tool at a set of Virginia high schools, and collected data to assess the tool’s impact on high school students’ college-going behavior.
- Underwater on Student Debt: Understanding Consumer Credit and Student Loan DefaultBlagg, Kristin (The Urban Institute, 2018-08-13)A quarter million federal direct student loan borrowers see their loans go into default for the first time every quarter, and an additional 20,000 to 30,000 borrowers default on their rehabilitated loans. Using nationally representative data from one of the nation’s three credit bureaus and following student borrowers who entered repayment in 2012, this report sheds new light on who defaults. Of the cohort examined, more than 20 percent defaulted at least once within four years.