Browsing by Author "Huelsman, Mark"

Now showing 1 - 16 of 16
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    Addressing the Top Misconceptions about Debt-Free College
    Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2016-11-01)
    It is undisputed that the way U.S individuals pay for higher education has shifted drastically over the past few decades—from summer jobs and moderate savings, to increasingly greater amounts of debt. As with any big reform, the push for debt-free college and the new investments proposed have been met with pushback among a skeptical elite. With that in mind, this report provides the six most common concerns about or arguments against debt-free college, and why they should not get in the way of a once-in-a-generation investment.
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    The Affordable College Compact
    Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2014-08-01)
    As a postsecondary degree has become more important than ever in the labor market, and the primary means by which one enters the middle class, the U.S. has simultaneously made it more difficult and more expensive to attain. Over the course of three decades, the cost of public colleges and universities—which educated nearly 3 in 4 students—has risen dramatically. Now, borrowing is nearly required to graduate with a four-year degree, particularly for low- and middle-income students. This report proposes a federal-state partnership to increase state investment and return to debt-free public higher education.
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    A Blueprint for College without Debt
    Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2018)
    In the past several years, the movement for tuition-free, debt-free, or otherwise affordable college has swept the country. As of 2018, 16 states and dozens of cities have launched “Promise Programs,” initiatives that in most cases cover tuition and fees for students, primarily at community colleges. These programs are operating within a national debate about the role of the federal government, states, and institutions in guaranteeing that all American citizens have access to affordable, high-quality postsecondary education, regardless of their race or family wealth. This report seeks to inform this debate by bringing new data on the urgency of the student debt crisis, particularly for borrowers of color, while outlining the policy mechanisms that are often considered in Promise Programs and free college proposals, and determining which are most important in creating an equitable guarantee for students.
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    Bridging Progressive Policy Debates: How Student Debt and the Racial Wealth Gap Reinforce Each Other
    Kahn, Suzanne; Huelsman, Mark; Mishory, Jen (Demos, 2019-09-01)
    This report compiles research on racial disparities both in the use of student debt and in higher education outcomes, specifically focusing on disparities between white students and Black students.
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    Connecticut’s Great Cost Shift
    Hiltonsmith, Robert; Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2014)
    In today’s economy, a college education is essential for getting a good job and entering the middle class. Yet, despite this reality, college costs are rising beyond the reach of many Connecticuters. State policy decisions have played a significant role in this rise by shifting costs onto students and families through declining state support. This report points out that Connecticut’s investment in higher education has decreased considerably over the past two decades, and its financial aid programs, though still some of the country’s most expansive, fail to reach many students with financial need. Students and their families now pay—or borrow—much more than they can afford to get a higher education, a trend which will have grave consequences for Connecticut’s future economy.
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    The Debt Divide: The Racial and Class Bias Behind the "New Normal" of Student Borrowing
    Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2015)
    This report provides a comprehensive look at how the “new normal” of debt-financed college impacts the whole pipeline of decision-making related to college. This includes, whether to attend college at all, what type college to attend and whether to complete a degree, all the way to a host of choices about what to do for a living, and whether to save for retirement or buy a home. In an America where Black and Latino households have just a fraction of the wealth of white households, where communities of color have for decades been shut out of traditional ladders of economic opportunity, a system based entirely on acquiring debt to get ahead may have very different impacts on some communities over others.
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    Debt to Society: The Case for Bold, Equitable Student Loan Cancellation and Reform
    Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2019-06-01)
    This report discusses several policy options to make student loans less burdensome, more humane, and less complicated.
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    The Debt-Free College Act of 2018
    Huelsman, Mark; Das, Vijay (Demos, 2018)
    The Debt-Free College Act of 2018 would create a new federal-state partnership that re-funds our neglected system of public colleges and job training.
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    A Leg Up: How A Privileged Minority Is Graduating Without Debt
    Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2016-07-06)
    The rapid and unrelenting rise in student debt over the past decade has put college affordability and student loan policy at the forefront of the national political conversation. As policymakers begin to develop comprehensive proposals, it’s important to understand which students are currently able to graduate without debt. If nearly 70 percent of graduates are borrowing, 30 percent (including 35 percent of public college graduates) are not. Who are these students? What type of family or financial resources do they have at their disposal? What are their work habits? In short, what does it take to graduate debt-free these days? This brief will answer these questions, allowing for a deeper understanding of what levers, policies and practices will be necessary to ensure all students can attend a state college or university without taking on debt.
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    Minnesota’s Great Cost Shift
    Hiltonsmith, Robert; Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2014)
    In today’s economy, a college education is essential for getting a good job and entering the middle class. Yet, despite this reality, college costs are rising beyond the reach of many Minnesotans. State policy decisions have played a significant role in this rise by shifting costs onto students and families though declining state support. This report is based on the Demos report “The Great Cost Shift”, which examines how nationwide disinvestment in public higher education over the past two decades has shifted costs to students and their families. The report outlines how such disinvestment is magnified by rapidly rising enrollments, and its effects are felt particularly acutely as student bodies become more economically, racially, and ethnically diverse. This report focuses on Minnesota, highlighting the trends in the state’s higher education funding over the last twenty years.
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    New Jersey’s Great Cost Shift How Higher Education Cuts Undermine the State’s Future Middle Class
    Hiltonsmith, Robert; Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2014)
    In today’s economy, a college education is essential for getting a good job and entering the middle class. Yet, despite this reality, college costs are rising beyond the reach of many New Jerseyans. State policy decisions have played a significant role in this rise by shifting costs onto students and families through declining state support. New Jersey’s investment in higher education has decreased considerably over the past two decades, and its financial aid programs, though still some of the country’s most expansive, fail to reach many students with financial need. This report shows that students and their families now pay—or borrow—much more than they can afford to get a higher education, a trend which will have grave consequences for New Jersey’s future economy.
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    Out of Reach? How a Shared Definition of College Affordability Exposes a Crisis for Low Income Students
    Huelsman, Mark (Dēmos, 2016-02-01)
    Skyrocketing average student debt is but one warning sign that our system has gone dangerously off course. Student loan defaults continue to rise even in a healthier post-recession economy, and many worry about the impact of student debt and high college costs on millennial economic security and the ability to earn enough to achieve a middle-class life. This problem has a class and a color: black students are more burdened with student debt, despite the fact that college often confers fewer benefits on them.
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    Out of Reach? How a Shared Definition of College Affordability Exposes a Crisis for Low-Income Students
    Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2016)
    This analysis attempts to use one definition of affordability to figure out which states have affordable college for which students. Simply, the Rule of 10 states that college is affordable if students can meet the total net price through 10 hours of work per week and 10 percent of a family’s discretionary income over 10 years. Using this benchmark, the author examines the average net price for low-income students in every state at both public four-year colleges and community colleges. He also created two additional scenarios—a worker returning to college after 10 years in the labor force making median earnings by race, and a student paying the average net price nationally and taking on student debt—to see how this benchmark holds up for the average student, by race.
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    Social Exclusion: The State of State U for Black Students
    Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2018-12-01)
    It is no surprise that students of color are socially excluded on campuses, or that the very existence of students of color invites awkward attention. Individual incidents on campus shine a light on this broad systemic exclusion of students of color. This exclusion is true even for elite public institutions, which still have a basic responsibility to be representative of and responsive to the needs of their state populations and economies. This report takes a look at whether selective public colleges have made progress toward these basic goals. The report shows that unfortunately, most states have very far to go in making their selective public institutions representative, and thus truly public. In many cases, institutions are less representative than they were a generation ago.
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    The Unaffordable Era: A 50-State Look at Rising College Prices and the New American Student
    Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2018-02-22)
    The U.S. has undergone downturns in the business cycle, what have often been viewed as necessary and temporary cuts to public higher education funding have instead become the new normal, and per-student funding has generally been on a downward trajectory for many years. The consequences of this austerity, neglect, and lack of political fortitude are felt most acutely by today’s students, the most diverse in the nation’s history. That today’s students face far higher college prices than previous generations is not in dispute. But the picture is not the same across the country, with wide variation in the levels of state commitments to higher education and to working-class students in particular. Even in states where support seems strong, working-class families face tuition bills that make up very large portions of their family income. This report lays out where the affordability and funding crises are most acute, taking a state-by-state look at where students can hope to work their way through college, how much each state prioritizes public higher education, and where white students have the greatest advantage in being able to pay the rising price.
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    Virginia’s Great Cost Shift: How Higher Education Cuts Undermine the State’s Future Middle Class
    Hiltonsmith, Robert; Huelsman, Mark (Demos, 2014)
    In today’s economy, a college education is essential for getting a good job and entering the middle class. Yet, despite this reality, college costs are rising beyond the reach of many Virginians. State policy decisions have played a significant role in this rise by shifting costs onto students and families though declining state support. Virginia’s investment in higher education has decreased considerably over the past two decades, and its financial aid programs, though still some of the country’s most expansive, fail to reach many students with financial need. This report shows that students and their families now pay—or borrow—much more than they can afford to get a higher education, a trend which will have grave consequences for Virginia’s future economy.