The federal role in higher education has grown over the past two decades, and now a new administration has the opportunity to strengthen policies that support students and their colleges and universities. To help inform these decisions, the Urban Institute convened a bipartisan group of scholars and policy advisers to write a series of memos highlighting some of the most critical issues in higher education and recommending policy solutions. This report argues that the system of federally guaranteed private students loans was seriously flawed and should not be revived, but that more private financing would be an improvement, particularly for lending to parents and graduate students.