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I recently attended a financial aid forum hosted by the state Office of Higher Education -- the one where 

warned about tying funding too closely to college performance measures.

The forum raised some interesting points, such as how our financial-aid system is essentially a voucher system based on the student-as-customer model -- yet managed by people who don't see the student as the main customer. The system has driven up costs, and tech-related solutions are not necessarily the answer.

 President Michael McPherson, an economist who's now president of the Spencer Foundation. Joining him were LaShawn Richburg-Hayes, postsecondary-education policy director for the MDRC (formerly known as the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation), and Zakiya Smith of the Lumina Foundation, who was a senior policy adviser on education in the Obama administration. Gov. Mark Dayton started the forum with a few remarks.

McPherson on the implications of the U.S. government's 1972 decision to give financial aid to students instead of directly to colleges:

"This is a hugely consequential choice that the federal government made. ... So much is linked -- I won't claim completely caused -- but linked to that consequential decision. The existence of for-profit higher education is entirely a consequence of that choice. There were less than half a percent of students in for-profit education before Pell Grants and guaranteed loans came along. Now the share of for-profit institutions is very close to the share of not-for profit private institutions -- it's over 15 percent and growing. ... Because of the design we created, the feds have a really limited toolkit in affecting the undergraduate parts of universities."

McPherson on financial aid as a voucher system plagued by a lack of information for the customer:

Smith on the fundamental thing many low-income student "customers" don't understand about college:

Richburg-Hayes on how colleges' academic and financial-aid bureaucracy alienate those customers:

Gov. Mark Dayton on just who higher education should be serving:

McPherson on how the low-income-student-as-customer approach -- a fundamentally good thing -- has raised the price of college:

McPherson on the promise of technology as a solution:

Education News

On Campus Blog

Alex Friedrich

Author

(MPR Photo / Alex Friedrich) I recently attended a financial aid forum hosted by the state Office of Higher Education — the one where Saint Paul College President Rassoul Dastmozd warned about tying funding too closely to college performance measures. The forum raised some interesting points, such as how our financial-aid system is essentially a voucher 

(MPR Photo / Alex Friedrich) I recently attended a financial aid forum hosted by the state Office of Higher Education — the one where Saint Paul College President Rassoul Dastmozd warned about tying funding too closely to college performance measures. The forum raised some interesting points, such as how our financial-aid system is essentially a voucher Read more →


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