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Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Student loans eyed by budgeteers

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recently dismissed negotiations among the Senate's 'Gang of Six.'

The White House and key lawmakers are considering reductions in student loan subsidies, farm payments, and support for federal workers’ pensions as they search for cuts that can clear the way for an increase in the national debt limit, according to officials in both parties.

The proposals being floated by both sides of the political spectrum differ over key details, but both would involve having interest on their college loans begin to accrue for at least some college students while they are still in school.

The negotiations are still in the early stages, with no final decisions made, these officials said May 18.…Read More

For-profit regulations, Pell Grants survive budget compromise

Experts expect lawmakers to keep Pell Grant funding at its current level.

Washington’s last-minute budget deal did not include a provision that would have killed a stringent for-profit college regulation, and Pell Grants remained intact despite deep cuts in education spending over the next six months.

The for-profit regulations pushed by the Obama administration for more than two years would impact some of the nation’s largest online colleges, such as the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University, by stripping schools of federal loan money if too many of their students maintain high loan debt-to-income ratios, among other provisions.

Although the anti-regulation provision was pushed primarily by Congressional Republicans, a bipartisan letter was submitted April 4 that would have barred the U.S. Department of Education (ED) from implementing the new regulations on for-profit programs.…Read More