Dear Commons Community,

A new analysis from the Rockefeller Institute of Government provides an assessment of the higher education-related policies, proposals, and appointments that occurred in the first 100 days of the Biden administration and offers a perspective on those that might yet come.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed considerable financial strain on colleges and universities. While the dire predictions about widespread college closures have not come true, the pandemic is an inflection point for higher education. As vaccination rates climb and the nation begins to move forward, federal higher education policy will play a critical role in determining the future of colleges and universities.

The analysis by Rockefeller Institute Nathan Fellow Rebecca Natow examines the actions taken by President Biden to advance a realigned policy agenda for higher education, including executive orders, presidential appointments to federal agencies, directives to the US Department of Education, requests in the annual budget, and legislative proposals, including the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act passed in March and two proposed infrastructure spending plans.

“This thorough review of the president’s higher education moves in his first 100 days is essential reading for those who are interested in understanding the higher education agenda being established by the Biden administration,” said Laura Schultz, executive director of research at the Rockefeller Institute. “The actions taken suggest the administration is prioritizing more funding for colleges and universities, especially for community colleges, strengthening Title IX and immigration policies, and focusing on making higher education more affordable.”

The president’s day one executive orders included the revocation of President Trump’s executive order banning certain kinds of diversity training for federal contractors. Other executive orders include recognizing gender identity and sexual orientation as protected classes under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and a mandate to “preserve and fortify” the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which provides protection from deportation to undocumented young people who came to the US as children, many of whom enroll in colleges and universities.

The analysis provides an overview of the legislative proposals put forth by President Biden. The proposed $1.8 trillion American Families Plan includes more than $290 billion for higher education, including $109 billion to cover tuition for students attending community college, and $80 billion to increase the maximum need-based Pell Grant award from $6,495 to $7,895. The $2 trillion American Jobs Plan would also make significant investments in technology, infrastructure, research and development, and workforce training.

Readers interested in higher education policy will find this report illuminating.

Tony

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.