O'Bergh, Jon From: Appel, Jeff Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 10:09 PM To: Cubartubia, Archie Subject: FW: Update re 4-year for-profit college graduation rates Fyi Sent from my Windows Phone From: Pauline Abernathy Sent: 12/20/2013 10:02 PM To: Appel, Jeff; Studley, Jamie; Protonsaltis, Spiros; Talwalker, Alita; Baker, Jeff Cc: Debbie Cochrane; Connie Myers Subject: Update re 4-year for-profit college graduation rates ‘We understand that NCES is planning to release 2012 graduation rates by sector on Dec. 31, so we wanted to make sure you were aware of an issue with last year’s rates. As you can see from the email below, last year we alerted the Department to the fact that the reported 14 percentage point increase in the four-year for- profit college 2011 graduation rate appeared to the best result of erroneous data reported by one for-profit college, Trident University International, Trident’s data were incorrect by such a margin that they had thrown off the entire sector’s graduation rate. Trident’ figures have since been corrected with IPEDS, and below we calculated the 2011 graduation rates with the corrected Trident data. The result: the 2011 for-profit college graduation rate was 29% (rather than 42%)—half that of all 4-year colleges. 150% Graduation Rates for BA-Seeking Students, by Sector 2011 Sector 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 (Provi All 4-year colleges 57.2% | 57.4% | 58.3% 58.7% | __ 58.1% Public, 4-year 54.9% | 55.7% | 56.0% 56.5% | 56.4% Private nonprofit, 4-year 64.6% | 65.1% | 65.4% 65.1% | __ 63.9% Private for-profit, 4-year 22.0% | 20.4% | 28.4% 42.0% [__ 29.0% ‘The graduation rates above are the share of first-time, full-time bachelor's degree-seeking. undergraduates who completed within 150% of normal time, by August of the year indicated. All figures except "2011 (Final)" were taken from U.S. Department of Education reports. ‘The "2011 (Final)" figures were calculated by TICAS using data from the U.S. Department of Education, integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).From: Pauline Abernathy Sent: Friday, November 30, 2012 3:05 PM To: Yuan, Georgia; Talwalker, Ajita; ‘David. Beraeron@ed.cov’; jeff.baker@ed.gov; ‘Jeff, Anpel@ed.gov' Ce: Joseph Mais; Connie Myers; Debbie Cochrane Subject: 4-year for-profit college graduation rates As you may know, last month NCES released preliminary data showing a 42.0% four-year for- profit college graduation rate for BA-seeking first-time, full-time (FTFT) undergraduates who started in 2005-06 and earned a BA by 2011, up from 28.4% for the previous cohort—a one- year 13.6 percentage point increase. We wanted to make sure you were aware that this, increase appears to be the result of erroneous data reported by one for-profit college, Trident University International. Excluding Trident, the four-year for-profit college graduation rate for students who started in 2005-08 would have been 29.1%, compared to 28.4% for the prior cohort. This is the first time Trident reported graduation rates as a separate college. Trident was formed from the online division of a nonprofit college (Touro College), received separate accreditation in 2005, and was subsequently purchased by a for-profit entity in 2007. Trident reported to IPEDS that 72% of 15,775 FTFT undergrads in the 2005-06 cohort graduated within 6 years. However, Touro College's tota/ undergraduate enrollment in 2005-06 was just 15,366, and Trident only purchased its online division. Additionally, only 19% of Trident's BA- seeking FTFT undergrads who began in Fall 2010 returned in Fall 2011. We have alerted IPEDS staff to this discrepancy, and it is our understanding that Trident will have an ‘opportunity to correct the data during next year's collection process Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The Institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 www.ticas.org and www.projectonstudentdebt.org,O'Bergh, Jon Jessica Thompson Monday, December 16, 2013 12:45 PM Cubarrubia, Archie Studley, Jamie; Appel, Jeff; Protopsaltis, Spiros Subject: RE: New Scorecard in January? r, actually, anytime on Friday afternoon would work as well. Thanks! Jessica L. Thompson Senior Policy Analyst The Institute for College Access & Success 1111 16" Street NW, Suite 310 Washington DC, 20036 Phone: (202) 223-6060 x601 ithompson@ticas.org www.ticas.org From: Jessica Thompson Sent: Monday, December 16, 2013 10:01 AM ‘Cubarrubia, Archie’ Ce: Studley, Jamie; Appel, Jeff; Protopsaltis, Spiros ‘Subject: RE: New Scorecard in January? Thanks, Archie! Would Thursday afternoon, sometime between 1-3pm work. | can swing by in person but one or two others would join us by phone, Thanks! Jessica Jessica L. Thompson Senior Policy Analyst ‘The Institute for College Access & Success 1111 16" Street NW, Suite 310 ‘Washington DC, 20036 Phone: (202) 223-6060 x601 ithompson@ticas.org wuwweticas.org From: Cubarrubia, Archie [mailto:Archie.Cubartubia@ed. gov] Sent: Friday, December 13, 2013 3:47 PM To: Jessica Thompson Cc: Studley, Jamie; Appel, Jeff; Protopsaltis, Spiros Subject: RE: New Scorecard in January?HiJessica- Happy to chat with you. I may loop in some other folks in OPE who are working on the Scorecard. Does sometime next Thursday or Friday afternoon work for you? Thanks, Archie Archie P. Cubarrubia, Ed.D. Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 6W223 Washington, DC 20202 Phone: (202) 401-1292 From: Protopsaltis, Spiros Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2013 11:17 AM To: Jessica Thompson; Studley, Jamie; Appel, Jeff; Cubarrubia, Archie Subject: RE: New Scorecard in January? Copying Archie who is the lead from opepd Sent from my Windows Phone From: Jessica Thompson Sent: 12/12/2013 11:06 AM To: Studley, Jamie; Protopsaltis, Spiros; Appel, Jeff Subject: New Scorecard in January? Hi Jamie, Spiros and Jeff! It was great to see you, albeit very briefly, last night. ‘We spoke with a couple of Department folks at the FSA conference last week about the new version of the Scorecard coming out in January and that it will have new median debt data as well as the new earnings data. We have a number of questions about the coming changes and want to know if there is any chance we could get a quick meeting or phone call to discuss them with one or more of you? We would love to avoid piling on to any criticism of the earnings data that may be likely to come upon release, so we would love to share any potential concerns with you privately in advance if possible Thanks, Jessica Jessica L. Thompson Senior Policy Analyst The institute for College Access & Success 1111 16" Street NW, Suite 310Washington DC, 20036 Phone: (202) 223-6060 x601 ithompson@ticas.org www. ticas.orgO'Bergh, Jon Studley, Jamie Monday, December 16, 2013 9:55 AM Pauline Abernathy; Valerius, Matthew; Cubarrubia, Archie RE: video game rating system Thank youl! Sent from my Windows Phone From: Pauline Abernathy Sent: 12/16/2013 6:41 AM To: Studley, Jamie Subject: video game rating system FYI, Here is what it looks like. An interesting model! http://www.commonsensemedia.org/game- reviews/knack Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The Institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 wwnw.ticas.org and www.projectonstudentdebt.orgO'Bergh, Jon eS Studley, Jamie Thursday, December 12, 2013 5:30 PM Sheth, Tushar FW: New TICAS blog post on CDRs and PRI Fyi Sent from my Windows Phone From: Debbie Cochrane Sent: 12/12/2013 5:14 PM To: Appel, Jeff; Kanter, Martha; Gomez, Gabriella; Baker, Jeff; Runcie, James; Gast, Sara; Protopsaltis, Spiros; Studley, Jamie; McGinnis, Colleen Ce: Lauren Asher; Pauline Abernathy Subject: FYI: New TICAS blog post on CDRs and PRI As you are all aware, we have long been and remain concemed that insufficient information about what CDRs mean for both students and colleges is contributing to community colleges leaving the federal student loan program. As you can see from our most recent blog post, posted yesterday and pasted below, there are concrete steps the Department can take that would not be burdensome for the Department to implement, As alternate financial aid negotiator Rhonda Mohr brought up at the gainful employment regulation negotiations in November, this becomes an even bigger concern with the pCDRs in the draft gainful employment regulation. ‘The gainful employment regulation presents an opportunity to improve the administration of the PRI for both institutional and program CDRs so that more community colleges do not leave the loan program, As always, please reach out if we can answer questions or be of assistance. Debbie Cochrane Research Director The Institute for College Access & Success 405 14th Street, Suite 1100 Oakland, California 94612 office: (510) 318-7900 // fax: (510) 318- 7918 deochrane@ticas.org wow.tics ww. proj www.college-insight.org U.S. Department of Education Strikes Out on CDRs Posted on December 11, 2013 by admin In the last three months, the U.S, Department of Education has struck out on clarifying what cohort default rates (CDRs) mean for students and colleges, prompting some colleges to stop offering federal student loans. The Department needs to provide better guidance to colleges on how to lower their CDRs while providing timely assurances to colleges with lowborrowing rates so they do not needlessly pull out of the loan program, denying their students the safest way to borrow. ‘A new proposal to use program-level CDRs only increases the urgent need for action by the Department. ‘Strike One: A Murky Scorecard In September, the Department released new CDRs for the nation’s colleges. But once again, it failed to provide the information necessary to interpret what the rates mean, CDRs are the primary measure of college accountability. They measure the share of colleges’ federal student loan borrowers who default soon after entering repayment, an important measure of student outcomes. For colleges where ‘most or all students borrow, CDRs can tell you a lot: high CDRs are a clear sign that students who attended that college are not faring well, and suggest that the college may not be a good investment for students or taxpayers. But for colleges where only a handful of students borrow, CDRs give fewer clues about how the colleges’ students are doing, ‘The problem is that the Department once again did not pair CDRs with colleges’ borrowing rates, as we have long asked them to do. That means that students from a particular college may appear very likely to defauit when, in fact, they are very unlikely to default because they are very unlikely to have to borrow at all. This is not helpful to students, journalists, or college leaders. Strike Two: A Confusing Rulebook Federal law acknowledges the importance of the borrowing rate in evaluating CDRs: colleges with high CDRs may lose eligibility for federal grants and loans, but colleges with few borrowers can avoid sanctions under what's called a ‘participation rate index (PRI) appeal.’ Nonetheless, misunderstandings about CORs and the PRI have sparked unnecessary fears in some colleges ~ particularly ‘community colleges ~ that they will be sanctioned, leading some institutions to pull out of the federal loan program entirely, This is most obvious (but certainly not only true) in California, where borrowing rates at the vast majority of ‘community colleges are in the single digits — well within the range eligible to appeal CDR sanctions, Without access to federal loans, students who need to borrow to attend college must either drop out or turn to more expensive and riskier forms of debt, including private loans or credit cards. Yet community colleges in California continue to stop offering loans, citing fears of CDR sanctions as their rationale. We have long encouraged the Department to issue public guidance to colleges describing the appeals options available to them, and underscoring the importance of federal loan access for students, but to date it has not done so. Strike Three: Silent Umpires ‘The type of sanction community colleges fear most is the loss of federal Pell Grants, which can occur after three consecutive CDRs at or above 30 percent. Colleges subject to this sanction lose Pell Grant eligibility immediately, but they an appeal the sanction if their borrowing rate in any one of the three consecutive cohorts is sufficiently low. However, the Department will not confirm that the colleges’ borrowing rates are low enough to appeal sanctions until the college's third consecutive high CDR, which is very late in the game. It i so late, in fact, that at that point there is no other way for the college to avoid sanctions, should Its appeal be rejected, since it cannot influence default rates for years past. By year three, the college faces sanctions within mere months. With the stakes so high, It is no wonder that some 2colleges opt to stop offering loans long before a third consecutive high CDR. Simply put, colleges need to understand their risks and options on an annual basis so that they can work to reduce defaults and continue to offer federal loans. The Department could easily inform colleges whether their CDRs will count towards sanctions, as we have recommended. Unfortunately, the Department has declined to do so, claiming that it would impose an "unmanageable workload” on its staff. However, the annual burden on the Department would be minimal, as few schools with borrowing rates low enough to qualify for the PRI have CDRs that would trigger sanctions in the first place. The Department also argued that colleges have sufficient time to avoid losing Pell Grant eligibility, since they can currently appeal when their third high CDR is in draft, rather than final, form, But this misses the point and ignores what we already know: without the right assurances from the Department earlier in the process, colleges will stop offering federal loans after their first or second year with high defauit rates. ‘The Next At Bat: Gainful Employment While the Department has struck out when it comes to CDRs, itis still in the game, and the ongoing gainful employment discussions — which continue next week ~ underscore the need for them to act. ‘The Department's latest gainful employment proposal would expand CDRs to measure program-level default rates (pCDRs) for career education programs, and cut off eligibility for programs where default rates are too high. Existing protections — like the PRI appeal option — would carry over from CDRs to pCDRs, but that is little consolation for colleges Given the current confusion and concern about PRI appeals. Most career education programs are located at community colleges, where borrowing rates are low and fears of sanctions are high. The Department needs to improve the PRI process to prevent more of these colleges from exiting the loan program — a trend that risks pushing more students to ‘drop out or take out private loans, and reducing affordable career education program options instead of ensuring them. ~ Debbie Cochrane and Matthew La Rocque Posted in California Access & Success, Federal and State Policy | Tagged Cohort Default Rates, Loan Participation, Participation Rate Index | Leave a commentO'Bergh, Jon From: Pauline Abernathy Sent Wednesday, December 11, 2013 3:58 PM To: Pauline Abernathy Ce: Jessica Thompson Subject: Bipartisan Net Price Calculator Improvement Act Introduced by Reps. Cummings, Iss, and Hinojosa FYI. Below is TICAS’ blog post endorsing the bipartisan Net Price Calculator Improvement Act introduced today. The post links to Rep Cummings’ press release on the bill, which is also posted at http://1.usa.gov/19CAoe!. TICAS Endorses Bipartisan Net Price Calculator Improvement Act Introduced by Reps. Cummings, Issa, and Hinojosa Net price calculators, required on almost all college web sites since October 2011, can help prospective students and families look past often scary “sticker prices” and gain a better understanding of which schools they might be able to afford, before they have to decide where to apply. Unfortunately, our research has found that many of these online tools are difficult to find, use, and compare. To make net price calculators more useful and accessible for students and families, we strongly support the bipartisan Net Price Calculator Improvement Act (HR 3694), introduced by Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX). This legislation builds on existing Department of Education ‘guidance for where the calculators should be located on college web sites, how they incorporate military and veteran benefits, and what results they must provide. Additionally, the bill protects students" privacy by prohibiting any personally identifiable information from being sold or made available to third parties. The bill also allows the Department of Education to create a web site that lets students answer one set of questions and obtain net price estimates for multiple colleges at once. This would dramatically simplify the current time-consuming process of finding and filling out a different calculator on each college’s web site, The content and design of that central web site would be reviewed and consumer-tested before going live, to ensure that it meets the needs of students and families. Colleges would still be able to create their own customized net price calculators, as long as they meet the minimum requirements. By making these tools easier to find, use, and compare, the Net Price Caleulator Improvement Act will help students and families make more informed decisions about which colleges to apply to and attend, For more information about net price calculators, visit our resource page. Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The Institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 wwwticas.org and www.projectonstudentdebt.org,O'Bergh, Jon ES From: Matt Reed Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 2:04 PM To: Soo, David; Datapalooza ce: Sanders, James Subject: RE: An Invitation from Secretary Ame Duncan Hi David, will definitely attend on behalf of TICAS, but no one else from TICAS will be able to join me this time. | have a couple follow-up questions Within Track 1, will all participants be attending the same sessions or will we be splitting into breakout sessions? Could you add a second contact from TICAS to your list and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy list for future emails about Data Jam / Datapalooza events? It would be great for these emails to come to me in Oakland and to Jessica Thompson in our DC office: Jessica L. Thompson Senior Policy Analyst The Institute for College Access & Success 1111 16" Street NW, Suite 310 Washington DC, 20036 Phone: (202) 223-6060 x601 ithompson@ticas.org Thanks, Matt Matthew Reed Program Director ‘The Institute for College Access & Success 405 14th Street Suite 1100 Oakland, CA 94612 510-318-7900 mreed@ticas.ora wnww.ticas.ora. ‘ww projectonstudentdebt ora College InSight Higher Education Data for Researchers and the Public, www college-insightorg From: Soo, David [mailto:David.Soo@ed.gov] Sent: Friday, December 06, 2013 1:58 PM To: Matt Reed; Datapalooza Ce: Sanders, James Subject: RE: An Invitation from Secretary Arne Duncan Matt,Thanks for writing. We'd love to have you send 1-2 people to the Data Jam at Stanford. Yes, BTW, it is on Sunday, Dec 15 from 9:00 to 4:00, "ve pasted our draft info below. And as you'll see, we have a focus on college choice and information for students. I suspect this is an area where you will contribute greatly. We will be having many entrepreneurs and developers there who can help to think creatively about how to build apps, games, or tools for students and families, but it will be important to have content experts such as yourselves there to help make these tools relevant and useful Let me know if you have further thoughts or questions! David Data Jam Background Last August, President Obama outlined an ambitious plan to increase value and affordability in postsecondary education. In support of this agenda, the Department of Education and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy are convening private sector innovators to brainstorm and accelerate new tools and services that, improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning, and help students choose and finance a postsecondary education. At the Data Jams, inspired by the open data assets and platforms highlighted by the hosts, we'll brainstorm new or expanded apps, tools, services, or other data-fueled innovations that participants will commit to carrying forward, individually or collectively. And at the Education Datapalooza (January 15 in Washington, DC) Department of Educ and White House officials will celebrate some of the tools and services that have been inspired or accelerated from the Data Jam. We'll focus on two areas: Track 1: College Choice and Affordability: While the importance of college has never been greater, the dizzying array of information available makes it difficult for students to make informed decisions about types of programs, where to enroll, and how to pay for college. Further, many of the tools and resources available to students for college selection do not leverage data, especially on student outcomes. Participants should consider the following use cases: ‘High school students choosing between community colleges, four-year institutions, and part- and full-time enrollment; + Returning adults who are seeking to begin or complete a degree to improve employment possibilities; and ‘Students financing postsecondary education, applying for federal and private financial student aid, selecting appropriate repayment plans, and increasing their financial literacy. Track 2: Open Data Standards and Privacy-Appropriate Sharing of Online Learning Data * Data collection and archival. A growing list of academic institutions develop and deliver online courses and course components through a range of platforms, including OpenEdX, Coursera, Canvas, Novokd, and others. Each platform collects data about user interaction, such as video usage, responses to interactive questions, interactions with intelligent tutoring systems, virtual lab environments, discussion forums, or peer interaction. * Standardized formats. Different platforms may use different data formats. In order to further meaningful exchange, we seek to regularize a variety of data formats from each platform organization and develop simple, maintainable methods to transform data as needed to support improved instruction and learning and to make it useful for learning research and course assessment analytics.‘+ Tool interface specification Data sets stored in defined formats can be analyzed by a variety of statistical models and the results can be output in multiple ways that are both human and machine readable. We seek to articulate a framework that supports a distributed data repository and the development of multiple analysis and reporting tools. acy and appropriate use, Data must be used in ways that respect privacy and institutional data use requirements, platform terms of service, and IRB protocols. We aim to comprehensively understand these and other considerations regarding data use, develop procedures and protocols to address them appropriately, and document them for relevant data user communities. * Research collaboration. We plan to share information about analytical tools and research methodologies for academic research activities grounded in educational data collected through online delivery and online learning activities. Event Location: Stanford University campus © Center for Educational Research at Stanford (CERAS) © Stanford, CA 94305 © Map: https://ed.stanford.edu/about/maps-directions © Parking is free on the Stanford Campus on Sundays. Parking Structure 6 (PS6) at the corner of ‘Campus Drive East and Arguello Mall is the closest parking garage to CERAS. ‘© Parking options: http://transportation.stanford.edu/parking_info/VisitorParking.shtm| ‘© Campus parking map: http://maps.stanford.edu/sites/all/Ibre- shared/files/maps/files/shared/file/maps_records/Parking_And_Circulation_Map.pdf © Hours: © December 15 30-9:00 Registration From: Matt Reed [mailto:MReed@ticas.ora) Sent: Friday, December 06, 2013 2:49 PM To: Datapalooza Ce: Sanders, James; S00, David ‘Subject: RE: An Invitation from Secretary Are Duncan ‘Thank you for the invitation! | would like to RSVP on behalf of The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) for the event at Stanford University, and | also have a few questions: Is this event in fact scheduled on Sunday, December 15, 2013, or is it on a weekday that week? ‘What are the starting and ending times for the event? Would it be possible for me to bring another TICAS staff member with me to the event? Thanks, Matt Matthew Reed Program DirectorThe Institute for College Access & Success 405 14th Street Suite 1100 Oakland, CA 94612 510-318-7900 mreed@ticas.org www ticas.org www projectonstudentdebt.org College Insight Higher Education Data for Researchers and the Public _wuw.college-insight.ora, From: Soo, David [mailto:David. Soo@ed.gov] Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 5:35 AM To: Datapalooza Cc: Sanders, James; Soo, David Subject: An Invitation from Secretary Arne Duncan Dear Colleague: In today's knowledge-based economy, getting a postsecondary education has never been more important. At the same time, it has never been more expensive. In August, President Obama outlined a bold agenda for ensuring that higher education provides a good value for students. A key component of this strategy is to hamess innovation that will increase quality, reduce costs, and improve outcomes. ‘The Department of Education would like to invite you to participate in a Data Jam on December 11, 2013, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or on December 15, 2013, at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, These will be working sessions where entrepreneurs and technology leaders will partner with education experts to brainstorm, develop, and commit to new ideas for tools, services, and apps designed to improve value, affordability, and outcomes in postsecondary education. ‘The tools and other deliverables created from these working sessions will be showcased at a subsequent Datapalooza event taking place in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2014. Harvard, edX, and Stanford will be sending further information in the coming days, but if you are interested in patticipating, please RSVP now or send questions to Datapalooza@ed gov. Thank you for all the work you do on behalf of America’s students Sincerely, tsi Arne Duncan Secretary of Education This invitation is non-transferrable.O'Bergh, Jon Soo, David Monday, December 09, 2013 10:32 PM Miki Goyal (miki@edx.org); Bergeron, Jenny (jbergeron@fasharvard.edu) Copy of DataJam Invite List--12-9 xlsx Attachments: Copy of Datalam Invite List--12-8 xlsx Let's plan to chat in the morning—8:00, 9:00? There is a limited pool of entrepreneurs that we had invited and | want to make sure that they get spread between your two tracks in ways that make sense. Look at the attached spreadsheet. | think the people in yellow on the tracks are the ones that there is some discrepancy about which list they should be on. Also | made it to Boston tonight and am happy to meet you guys at the space and walk through when it makes sense. DavidO'Bergh, Jon Loren Stein Saturday, December 07, 2013 6:04 PM Plotkin, Hal Re: Full day Love the pics! Sigh... Sounds like you had a very full and fun day! I have written you back, every note. | wonder if you've received them? Told you Brian called, etc. (He had some nasty things to say about Bob Shireman, btw, he's very critical of what Bob is, doing now and who's he's aligned himself with.) Not sure about an ice storm... I's cold here but stopped raining last night. We're good. Had a very fun day at the Tenley WinterFest at Janney « over 4 hours there. Food, crafts market, music performances, etc. Keira spent most of it playing on the playground and | had many good conversations with lots of people, including Suzy, who was very nice, and Miriam, who had just seen my Dr. Linda and loved her. Bought books and other stuff. I'm talked out and peopled out ‘Anyway, we're home and safe and sound. So glad your trip has been such a success. Forgot to tell you that the job has been extended one more week (we're not done, of course). I've kept asking you in my notes what date we're supposed to have dinner with Martha and that you should complain to the hotel management about your stolen charger! Also, happy to tell you Keira is eagerly reading the feelings/friends books | got her. Wants to read them every night. See you tomorrow evening. We may be over at Miriam's when you get home (we're going there at arrived but has not been set up yet. And the bathroom sink is totally clogged. 215). Printer has Love, safe travels, Xo, L On 12/7/13 5:44 PM, "Plotkin, Hal” wrote: >Well, | made the most of my one free day here: morning walk around the >hotel neighborhood checking out some historic buildings and an large urban garden park - that is no doubt much nicer in the Spring (damp and >cold today, but still nice - think NY Central Park in eariy winter). >Then to the louvre’ -a little over five hours there - sore feet - had >lunch there, too - 3 little Tapas for 12 Euro - then back to hotel for >a short rest - had to get off my feet - then headed out about 7PM to >Latour Eiffel (sent pix) - and now waiting for my prix fixe dinner at a 1>cafe (Cafe Hippopotomus!) near my hotel (Metro'd all over town today). >Worried about the ice storm that | hear is headed your way and hope >does not impact my flight! Will use the hotel computer to check before >I go to bed and when | get up - taxi is supposed to take me to the >airport at 10:30AM my time tomorrow (Sunday) fingers crossed. Love you >both and goodnight kisses - no recent (last 24 hours | think?) reports >from you - hope all is well. Love and goodnight kisses, D/HO'Bergh, Jon Soo, David Friday, December 06, 2013 4:58 PM Matt Reed; Datapalooza Sanders, James RE: An Invitation from Secretary Arne Duncan Matt, ‘Thanks for writing. We'd love to have you send 1-2 people to the Data Jam at Stanford. Yes, BTW, it is on Sunday, Dec 15 from 9:00 to 4:00. I've pasted our draft info below, And as you'll see, we have a focus on college choice and information for students, { suspect this is an area where you will contribute greatly. We will be having many entrepreneurs and developers there who can help to think creatively about how to build apps, games, or tools for students and families, but it will be important to have content experts such as yourselves there to help make these tools relevant and useful. Let me know if you have further thoughts or questions! David Data Jam Background Last August, President Obama outlined an ambitious plan to increase value and affordability in postsecondary education. In support of this agenda, the Department of Education and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy are convening private sector innovators to brainstorm and accelerate new tools and services that improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning, and help students choose and finance a postsecondary education. {At the Data Jams, inspired by the open data assets and platforms highlighted by the hosts, we'll brainstorm new or expanded apps, tools, services, or other data-fueled innovations that participants will commit to carrying forward, individually or collectively. And at the Education Datapalooza (January 15 in Washington, DC) Department of Education and White House officials will celebrate some of the tools and services that have been inspired or accelerated from the Data Jam. We'll focus on two areas: ‘Track 1; College Choice and Affordability: While the importance of college has never been greater, the dizzying array of, information available makes it difficult for students to make informed decisions about types of programs, where to enroll, and how to pay for college. Further, many of the tools and resources available to students for college selection do not leverage data, especially on student outcomes. Participants should consider the following use cases: © High school students choosing between community colleges, four-year institutions, and part- and full-time enrollment; ‘© Returning adults who are seeking to begin or complete a degree to improve employment possibilities; and ‘© Students financing postsecondary education, applying for federal and private financial student aid, selecting appropriate repayment plans, and increasing their financial literacy.‘Track 2: Open Data Standards and Privacy-Appropriate Sharing of Online Learning Data Data collection and archival. A growing list of academic institutions develop and deliver online courses and course components through a range of platforms, including OpenEdX, Coursera, Canvas, NovoEd, and others. Each platform collects data about user interaction, such as video usage, responses to interactive questions, interactions with intelligent tutoring systems, virtual lab environments, discussion forums, or peer interaction, Standardized formats. Different platforms may use different data formats. In order to further meaningful exchange, we seek to regularize a variety of data formats from each platform organization and develop simple, maintainable methods to transform data as needed to support improved instruction and learning and to make it useful for learning research and course assessment analytics. Tool interface specification Data sets stored in defined formats can be analyzed by a variety of statistical models and the results can be output in multiple ways that are both human and machine readable. We seek to articulate a framework that supports a distributed data repository and the development of multiple analysis and reporting tools. Privacy and appropriate use. Data must be used in ways that respect privacy and institutional data use requirements, platform terms of service, and IRB protocols. We aim to comprehensively understand these and other considerations regarding data use, develop procedures and protocols to address them appropriately, and document them for relevant data user communities. Research collaboration. We plan to share information about analytical tools and research methodologies for academic research activities grounded in educational data collected through online delivery and online learning activities. Event Location: Stanford University campus ‘© Center for Educational Research at Stanford (CERAS) (© Stanford, CA 94305 (© Map: https://ed.stanford.edu/about/maps-directions ‘©. Parking is free on the Stanford Campus on Sundays. Parking Structure 6 (PS6) at the corner of Campus Drive East and Arguello Mall is the closest parking garage to CERAS. © Parking options: http://transportation.stanford.edu/parking_info/VisitorParking.shtml © Campus parking map: http://maps.stanford.edu/sites/all/Ibre- shared/files/maps/files/shared/file/maps_records/Parking_And_Circulation_Map.pdf © Hours: © December 15 }0-9:00 Registration = 9:00-4:00 Data Jam Program From: Matt Reed [maiito:MReed@ticas.org] Sent: Friday, December 06, 2013 2:49 PM To: Datapalooza Ce: Sanders, James; Soo, David Subject: RE: An Invitation from Secretary Arne Duncan Thank you for the invitation! I would like to RSVP on behalf of The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) for the event at Stanford University, and | also have a few questions:Is this event in fact scheduled on Sunday, December 15, 2013, or is it on a weekday that week? What are the starting and ending times for the event? Would it be possible for me to bring another TICAS staff member with me to the event? Thanks, Matt Mathew Reed Program Director The Institute for College Access & Success 405 ‘th Street Suite 1100 Oakland, CA 94612 510-318-7800 mreed@ticas.ora www ticas.ora, www. projectonstudentdebt ora College InSight, Higher Education Data for Researchers and the Public wniow.college-insight.org From: Soo, David [mailto:David.Soo@ed,cov] Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 5:35 AM To: Datapalooza Ce: Sanders, James; Soo, David ‘Subject: An Invitation from Secretary Arne Duncan Dear Colleague: Tn today’s knowledge-based cconomy, getting a postsecondary education has never been more important. At the same time, it has never been more expensive. In August, President Obama outlined a bold agenda for ensuring that higher education provides a good value for students. A key component of this strategy is to hamess innovation that will increase quality, reduce costs, and improve outcomes. ‘The Department of Education would like to invite you to participate in a Data Jam on December 11, 2013, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or on December 15, 2013, at Stanford University in Palo Allto, California. These will be working sessions where entrepreneurs and technology leaders will partner with education experts to brainstorm, develop, and commit to new ideas for tools, services, and apps designed to improve value, affordability, and outcomes in postsecondary education. ‘The tools and other deliverables created from these working sessions will be showcased at a subsequent Datapalooza event taking place in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2014. Harvard, edX, and Stanford will be sending further information in the coming days, but if' you are interested in participating, please RSVP now or send questions to Datapalooza@ed.gov Thank you for all the work you do on behalf of America’s students. Sincerely, ist Arne Duncan Secretary of EducationThis invitation is non-transferable.O'Bergh, Jon Fro: Studley, Jamie Sen Friday, December 06, 2013 10:48 AM To: Pauline Abernathy Ce: Jessica Thompson Subject: RE: College Scorecard Sorry, | thought you knew about that. Shdnt assume! ‘Thanks for a great call. And thank YOU, Jessica, for your feedback on our session in Vegas Sent from my Windows Phone From: Pauline Abernathy Sent: 12/6/2013 10:28 AM To: Studley, Jamie Ce: Jessica Thompson Subject: College Scorecard FYI | just heard that the Dept plans to release a new College Scorecard in January with new data so all the issues we talked about could be addressed. Below is our blog post on the issue and we have provided more detailed feedback to ED as well. New College Scorecard: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back Posted on February 13, 2013 ‘As promised in last night’s State of the Union Address, today the Administration unveiled its new College ‘Scorecard. By providing information about colleges” costs and outcomes in a clear and comparable format, it has the potential to be a game-changer for higher education. We have long touted the importance of the Scorecard and other tools designed to help students and families pick a college, and we applaud the ‘Administration for supporting and promoting a higher education agenda that puts students first. Overall, the data provided on the Scorecard are what students and families need to better understand their college options. Today's version of the Scorecard includes some marked improvement over earlier drafts: itis more interactive and now links directly to colleges’ own net price calculators. However, two types of data on the Scorecard are less helpful and even downright misleading: ‘© Loan default rates are provided without any context about how many students at the college borrow and are therefore at risk of ever defaulting. For instance, American River College's default rate of 27.5% is much higher than the national average of 13.4%. But what consumers can’t tell from the Scorecard is that only 8% of ‘American River College students actually borrow federal loans. The default rate only represents the share of borrowers ~ not students - who default. Certainly American River should work on improving its default rate. But when 92% of its students never borrowed in the first place, implying that the default rate alone is indicative of student outcomes more generally does a disservice to would-be students. The median borrowing figures provided are for all federal loan borrowers who entered repayment, regardless of whether the student entered repayment after graduating or dropping out after a semester or two. This makes colleges with high drop-out rates look like a good deal, compares apples to oranges, and undermines the value of other outcome information. Here’s an example. The Scorecard shows that the median federal debt of 1borrowers entering repayment at Grand Canyon University and Duke University (which both primarily grant bachelor’s degrees) is very similar: $9,500 at Grand Canyon and $8,840 at Duke. Meanwhile, other federal data not reflected on the Scorecard show that these figures represent very different student outeomes. Because 41% of entering first-time, full-time students at Grand Canyon didn't return for a second year, the low median debt for borrowers entering repayment reflects just one year of loans in many cases. Indeed, the average federal loan amount for undergraduate borrowers at Grand Canyon in 2010-11 - what they borrowed in just that one year — is a remarkably similar figure: $9,444. In contrast, all but 3% of entering first-time, full-time students at Duke return for a second year. And the average annual federal loan amount for undergraduate borrowers is $3,751, less than half their median debt at repayment. That makes sense considering 94% of their entering students leave with degrees. In these cases, bad comparisons are worse than no comparisons. Fortunately, both of these data problems have simple fixes. It would be easy for the Department of Education to add the share of students borrowing to the oan default rate box and provide the necessary context for interpreting default rates. For the median borrowing figures, the Department is already taking steps to collect cumulative federal debr at graduation — which would be an apples-to-apples comparison of students at the same point in their academic trajectory. Until those figures are available, the Scorecard should take the same approach to median borrowing as it already does to earnings information: make clear that federal data aren’t yet available and encourage prospective students to ask the school for more information. For more about how to improve information for students and families and other ways to increase college affordability and completion, see TICAS’ new white paper (released yesterday): Aligning the Means and the Ends: How to Improve Federal Student Aid and Increase College Access and Success http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/higher-education/college-score-card Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 icas.org and www.projectonstudentdebt.org,O'Bergh, Jon From: Studley, Jamie Sen Friday, December 06, 2013 9:08 AM To: Pauline Abernathy Subject: RE:T'm on the callin line--you stil calling in? Pls call back in two min | was in elevator subway etc Sent from my Windows Phone From: Pauline Abernathy Sent: 12/6/2013 9:06 AM Tor Studley, Jamie ‘Subject: I'm on the call in line--you still calling in? Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The Institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 www.ticas.org and www.projectonstudentdebt.orgO'Bergh, Jon From: Gast, Sara Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 1:19 PM To: Buckley, Jack; Talwalker, Ajita (Ajita_R Talwalker@who.eop.gov); Appel, Jeff; Sheth, ‘Tushar; Protopsaltis, Spiros; Spector, Stephen; Gomez, Robert; Nolt, Dorie; Ritsch, Massie Ce Hunt-White, Tracy; Soldner, Matthev; Chapman, Chris; Studley, Jamie Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Belated thanks for this, Jack and team! You guessed the number TICAS went with ($29,400 as the average cumulative for grads), and that was very helpful to have had a heads-up on when they sent the embargoed materials last night. | don't think any of this would be particularly useful at the moment in terms of publishing it, but if we need to, I'll let you know! Original Message—- From: Buckley, Jack Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2013 9:41 AM To: Talwalker, Ajita (Ajita_R_Talwalker@who.eop gov); Gast, Sara; Appel, Jeff; Sheth, Tushar; Protopsaltis, Spiros; Spector, Stephen; Gomez, Robert; Nolt, Dorie; Ritsch, Massie Cc: Hunt-White, Tracy; Soldner, Matthew; Chapman, Chris Subject: FW: quick, time sensitive question Importance: High Ajita, Sara etal, ‘The NPSAS team has produced some rough estimates of various ways to use the data to generate cumulative debt— include the way we think TICAS will do it. I would say keep these in your back pocket and, if TICAS asks, we can quickly check their numbers for reasonableness. Going forward we can clean up one or more of these tables, double check them, and put out a short-format or web table publication if we need to release something. Best, Jack Jack Buckley, Ph.D, Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education 1990 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20006 Office: (202) 219-7001 Cell: (202) 253-2690 Original Message~ Soldner, Matthew Fro Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2013 9:25 AM To: Buckley, Jack Cc: Hunt-White, Tracy; Chapman, Chri quick, time sensitive questionHil ‘Tracy asked that I re-run the BA only table with a row that combined the public and private non-profit 4 years, because that seems to be close to the method TICAS has used in the past. I've done that in the attached POF - | kept the row in there that shows each separately, in case anyone wants to know what's driving the estimate. However, the row you want to focus on is in the bottom half of the table ("Graduating Senior = YES") and is in the second set of sector-wise estimates: "NPSAS Sector = Public and private nonprofit 4-year." ‘As | mentioned, technically I'm only working until 10 AM today, but Ill be lurking on email Best, Matt Matthew Soldner, Ph.D. National Center for Education Statistics inces.ed.gov/ncestaff/StaffDetl.asp?empi From: Soldner, Matthew Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 10:00 PM To: Buckley, Jack Ce: Hunt-White, Tracy; Chapman, Chris Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Tracy: Ran some estimates off of the development server - may give us a head start on what Sara needs, or at least serve as a double-check for a separate run. | used BORAMTL for al these tables, varying: (2) Simply by sector (ALL UGs), (2) By sector by degree program (ALL UGs by DEGREE), (3) By sector by COLLGRAD for BA students only (BA ONLY COLLGRAD Y v N}. Let me know what else would be helpful. | should sign on at 8 AM EDT. M Matthew Soldner, Ph.D. National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/ncestaff/StaffDetl.asp?empi From: Soldner, Matthew Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 9:48 PM To: Buckley, Jack Cc: Hunt-White, Tracy; Chapman, Chris Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive questionHill! Unless 'm missing something, we will have a cumulative amount borrowed for undergraduates for the whole NPSAS population (BORAMT1). We can do what we've told Mark Kantrowitz and others NOT to do and use another variable (COLLGRAD) to get BORAMT1 for students who institutions/students believe are graduating. That particular status flag is, neither verified (so its accuracy is dodgy) nor would it be necessarily representative ... this is a BPS year. It may be close enough for a back-of-the-envelope. Do we know how TICAS is planning to "cut" the data (e.g., sector, degree program]? Tracy or I can do the estimates first thing tomorrow morning, if that'd be helpful. Just let me know! Matthew Soldner, Ph.D. National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/ncestaff/StaffDetl.asp?empid= From: Buckley, Jack Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 9:25 PM To: Soldner, Matthew Ce: Hunt-White, Tracy; Chapman, Chris Subject: FW: quick, time sensitive question Matt needs to be on this one, too. How does Sara's proposal sound? This would have to be quick Jack Buckley, Ph.D. Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education 1990 k St NW Washington, DC 20006 (202) 219-7001 From: Menon, AjitaT. [Ajta_R_Talwalker@who.eop.gov] Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 6:47 PM To: Gast, Sara; Appel, Jeff; Buckley, lack; Hunt-White, Tracy; Sheth, Tushar; Protopsaltis, Spiros Cc: Spector, Stephen; Nolt, Dorie; Ritsch, Massie; Gomez, Robert Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Makes sense to me. | had put Lauren in touch with the NCES crew after she reached out tome. If we have the data and feel comfortable doing it, | agree with Sara that itis better to get the factual figure out there. Right now people are using $B’s synthetic number—would definitely prefer having our own federal version even if we don’t advertise it ourselves, From: Gast, Sara [mailto:Sara.Gast@ed.gov) Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 6:43 PM To: Menon, Ajita T.; Appel, Jeff; Buckley, lack; Hunt-White, Tracy; Sheth, Tushar; Protopsaltis, Spiros Ce: Spector, Stephen; Nolt, Dorie; Ritsch, Massie; Gomez, Robert Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive questionOr! As an intermediate step, NCES it would be great if you could let us know what the cumulative debt figure will be just for our internal purposes. We don’t need to commit anything to Lauren now, but knowing both the undergrad cumulative debt figure and the bachelor degree graduates cumulative debt figure will be helpful (also because we use those numbers ourselves and should be as accurate as possible) ~ and then we can gauge the need to correct what TICAS is doing. Is that possible? From: Gast, Sara Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 6:22 PM To: Talwalker, Ajita (Ajita_R_Talwalker@who.eop.gov); Appel, Jeff; Buckley, Jack; Hunt-White, Tracy; Sheth, Tushar; Protopsaltis, Spiros Cc: Spector, Stephen; Nolt, Dorie; Ritsch, Massie; Gomez, Robert Subject: FW: quick, time sensitive question Just talked with our friend Lauren at TICAS. She let me know that new NPSAS data is coming out on Tuesday the 3rd and that NCES will only be issuing a first-look report for now, and that it wouldn’t have cumulative debt figures just yet ~ perhaps we are waiting to clean the data? She's assuming it will be a race between them, Kantrowitz, Deanne Loonin, and others to calculate that number. She knows we aren't going to publish a cumulative debt figure, but she would like to know if we could privately double-check their math next week. | said | would ask but no promises. (Jack/Tracy, I'm guessing your answer will be no, but from a comms perspective, if their number is really off, that creates a headache for Us if we can ultimately prove it’s lower but we just aren’t saying it. As you know, a lot of people run with TICAS’s debt number. So, just let me know :) TICAS is planning on issuing its annual student debt report on Wednesday at noon after the NPSAS data is released, and she gave me a little taste of what the narrative would say ~ primarily that institutions need to report clean and accurate data because families need good information to make @ decision, and that a lot of the tools currently in development (scorecard, ratings, etc) rely on accurate data. 'm guessing 1BR will also get a mention. I'm assuming she either will or has already tried to call all of you (she mentioned you two, Ajita and Jeff), so wanted to sgroup-share the readout, Jack and Tracy, she mentioned she had talked to you about the NPSAS release. From: Lauren Asher [mailto:LAsher @ticas.org] Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 4:54 PM To: Gast, Sara Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Great -will try you in about 10. From: Gast, Sara [mailto:Sara.Gast@ed.gov) Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 1:05 PM To: Lauren Asher Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Hi Lauren ~ feel free to call whenever you have a chance! I'll be here for another couple hours, at least: 202-401-1989. From: Lauren Asher {mailto:LAsher@ticas.org] Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 3:17 PM To: Gast, Sara Subject: quick, time sensitive question Do you have 5-10 minutes to talk today? We're releasing our annual report on student debt for new college grads next Wednesday, utilizing new NPSAS variables that are due out the day before. | can brief you on the numbers we're 4planning to crunch and the questions you might get from reporters starting as early as Tuesday afternoon, and check a ‘couple of things with you as well Lauren Asher, President ‘The Institute for College Access & Success 405 14th Street, 11th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612 phone: 510-318-7900, x304 fax: 510-318-7918 email: jasher @ticas.org www.ticas.orgchttp://www.ticas.org> www. projectonstudentdebt.orgchttp://www.projectonstudentdebt.org> www.college-insight.orgchttp://www.college-insight.org> www.ibrinfo.orgchttp://www.ibrinfo.org>O'Bergh, Jon From: Pauline Abernathy Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 1:06 PM To: Pauline Abernathy Ce: Joseph Mais; Connie Myers Subject: TICAS releases Student Debt & the Class of 2012: Average Student Debt Climbs to $29,400 for Class of 2012 Attachments: Student Debt_and the Class_of 2012_NRPDF; classof2012,pdf college FYI-Today TICAS’ Project on Student Debt ACCESS “SUCCESS ‘leased Student deta tne — SUMAN IT cass of 2012, our eighth annual report on the student loan debt of recent college graduates. Based on new national NPSAS data that include public, nonprofit and for-profit colleges, the report finds: '® College graduates who borrowed for bachelor’s degrees granted in 2012 had an average student loan debt of $29,400. © Seven in 10 college seniors (71%) who graduated last year had student loan debt. © One-fifth of their debt was in private loans even though the financial crisis caused a steep decline in private lending while these borrowers were in school. To estimate state-by-state averages and identify high- and low-debt schools, the report uses figures provided voluntarily by public and private nonprofit four-year colleges (virtually no for-profit colleges share these data). We continue to find that average student debt levels vary widely by state as well as by college, with high-debt states remaining concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, and low-debt states mainly in the West and South. ‘The report includes policy recommendations to reduce the need to borrow, collect and provide students with the information they need when they need it to make informed decisions, strengthen college accountability, reduce reliance on private education loans, and improve and pramate awareness of federal loan repayment options. To view debt levels for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and more than 1,000 individual U.S. colleges and universities, visit our companion interactive map at http://projectonstudentdebt.org/. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 12/4/13 CONTACTS: Shannon Gallegos Gretchen Wright Bill Swindell 510/318-7915 202/371-1999 510/318-7902 Average Student Debt Climbing: $29,400 for Class of 2012 New report includes state-by-state and campus-by-campus debt levels (Oakland, CA) ~ College graduates who borrowed for bachelor’s degrees granted in 2012 had an average student loan debt of $29,400, according to a new report from the Project on Student Debt at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS). Seven in 10 college seniors (71%) who graduated last year had student loan debt. Even though the 1financial crisis caused a steep decline in private education lending while these borrowers were in school, one-fifth of their debt was in private loans, which are typically more costly and provide fewer consumer protections and repayment ‘options than safer federal loans. From 2008 to 2012, average debt (federal and private loans combined) increased an average of six percent each year. ‘The report, Student Debt and the Class of 2012, includes lists of high- and low-debt states and colleges around the country and highlights significant differences among colleges and states. For example, new college graduates with loans owed almost twice as much on average in Delaware as in New Mexico, and in five states average debt was more than $30,000. The odds of having student loans also differed from state to state, with 2012 graduates nearly twice as likely to have debt in South Dakota as in Nevada. At the college level, the share of graduates with loans and their average debt covered an even wider range. Federal surveys only collect the data needed to calculate national average debt for new graduates once every four years, including 2012. TICAS used newly available federal data for the national figures in this report, which are not directly comparable to prior figures from other data sources and cannot be broken down by state or college. In fact, colleges are not required to report their own graduates’ debt. To estimate state-by-state averages and identify high- and low-debt schools, TICAS used figures provided voluntarily by more than hatf of all public and private nonprofit four-year colleges. For-profit colleges, which accounted for seven percent of 2012 bachelor’s recipients, are not included in the state estimates or college lists because virtually none chose to share their data. The findings come as unemployment remains high compared to before the financial crisis. In 2012, 7.7 percent of young college graduates were unemployed, and a broader measure capturing under-employment showed 18.3 percent were either unemployed, working fewer hours than they wanted, or had given up looking for a job. Still, young adults without college degrees face far worse job prospects: 17.9 percent of young high school graduates with no college were unemployed in 2012. “Despite discouraging headlines, a college degree remains the best route to finding a job in this tight market. But students and families need to know that debt levels can vary widely from college to college,” said TICAS president Lauren Asher. “If you need to borrow to get through school, federal student loans are the safest way to borrow. Whatever you earn, income-driven plans like Pay As You Earn can help keep federal loan payments manageable.” State highs and lows: State averages for borrowers’ debt at graduation in 2012 ranged from $18,000 to $33,650. High- debt states remain concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, with Delaware the highest. New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Rhode Island also had average debt over $30,000. Low-debt states were mainly in the West and South, with New Mexico the lowest. Other low-debt states include California, Arizona, Nevada, and Wyoming. College highs and lows: At the campus level, average debt varied even more widely, ranging from $4,450 to $49,450, and the share of students graduating with loans ranged from 6 percent to 100 percent. Colleges with higher tuition tended to have higher average debt, but there are many examples of high-cost colleges with relatively low average debt, and vice versa. ‘The report notes that colleges that receive scrutiny for their voluntarily reported debt levels may be more likely to stop providing such data. For example, 20 percent of the schools on the list of high-debt public colleges in our 2011 report, and 30 percent of the schools on the list of low-debt colleges, chose not to report data in 2012. In comparison, overall only 10 percent of all the colleges that reported debt data for 2011 didn’t report for 2012. Need for better data: Even for those colleges that do report voluntarily, the college-level debt figures in the report may understate actual borrowing because they don’t include transfer students or any private loans the college is unaware of. The report’s state estimates are based on the available college-level data, so actual state averages may be higher as well.The best national figures for public and nonprofit colleges combined show that 68 percent of their graduating seniors ‘owed an average of $27,850 in student loans. These are lower than the overall national figures because they do not include for-profit college graduates, who are more likely to borrow and graduate with more debt. The report contains several policy recommendations to help ease student debt burdens, including collecting better college-level data on debt at graduation and private student loan borrowing, as well as more comprehensive data on graduation rates. "Right now, some colleges escape accountability by opting not to report their graduates’ debt, while those who do report are stuck on an unequal playing field,” said Matthew Reed, the report's primary author. “Students, researchers, and policymakers need and deserve better and more complete information." This issue is especially crucial as President Obama has proposed developing ratings before the 2015 school year aimed at helping consumers compare colleges' value and encouraging institutions to improve. "The success of the President's proposal to rate colleges based on access, affordability, value, and student outcomes will depend on the quality of the data used in the ratings, underscoring the urgency of gathering better information,” said TICAS research director Debbie Cochrane, NOTE: For more information on state and college debt for the Class of 2012, see our companion interactive map with details for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and more than 1,000 public and private nonprofit four-year colleges. wee ‘An independent, nonprofit organization, The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) works to make higher education more avaiable and ‘affordable for people ofall backgrounds. TICAS' Project on Student Debt works to increase public understanding of ring student debt and the ‘implications for our rmlies, economy, and society Follow us on TwitterO'Bergh, Jon From: Jessica Thompson Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 10:58 AM To: Henderson, Josh Subject: Re: college ratings ‘Since Pauline will call from Philly and me from Vegas, a conference line would be great. Thanks! Sent from my iPhone (On Dec 4, 2013, at 7:50 AM, "Henderson, Josh’ wrote: Great. Would it work best for us to call you? What is the best number to reach you? If people will be calling in from multiple places | am also more than happy to offer up one of our conference lines. Let me know! Thanks, Josh jessica Thompson [mailto:ithompson@ticas.org] Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 10:37 AM To: Henderson, Josh Subject: Re: college ratings How about 9am Friday? Sent from my iPhone (On Dec 4, 2013, at 7:18 AM, "Henderson, Josh” wrote: Yes, EST. From: Jessica Thompson [mailto:ithompson@ticas.ora] ‘Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 10:18 AM To: Henderson, Josh Subject: Re: college ratings These are EST times, right? Let me check with Pauline and get back to you. Thanks! Sent from my iPhone On Dec 4, 2013, at 6:18 AM, "Henderson, Josh” wro! Jamie would be available for a 30 minute call between 9am-10am, Lam-12pm, or 2pm-3pm on Friday. Any of those work? From: Studley, Jamie Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 9:40 PM To: Jessica ThompsonCe: Henderson, Josh ‘Subject: RE: college ratings I'm in Vegas too. I'm concerned tomorrow may be hectic here. Josh, can you see if any of the windows later in the week work ? Sent from my Windows Phone From: Jessica Thompson Sent: 12/3/2013 2:48 PM To: Studley, Jamie Ce: Henderson, Josh Subject: Re: college ratings Just checking in to see if we can close the loop on getting @ call scheduled, Or has Pauline followed up with you directly? | was out yesterday and just arrived in Vegas so apologies if| missed any follow up that had already occurred, Thanks! Jessica Sent from my iPhone (On Nov 27, 2013, at 7:03 AM, "Studley, Jamie" wrote: | might be able to do 4th but gave to synch with Vegas time zone and flight time. We'll get back to you Monday Sent from my Windows Phone From: Jessica Thompson Sent: 11/27/2013 9:45 AM To: Studley, Jamie Ce: Henderson, Josh Subject: RE: college ratings Thanks, Jamie! Do you have any time between 3-Spm ‘on Wednesday the 4" to do a quick first call with Pauline? She could also do 1pm on Thursday or 4pm on ‘Thursday (the 5"). Josh, if none of those work let me know if there are any times on Friday the 6" that do work, We are happy to follow up with Archie after. Thanks! From: Studley, Jamie [mailto:Jamie.Studley@ed.gov] Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 6:39 PM To: Jessica ThompsonCc: Henderson, Josh ‘Subject: RE: college ratings ‘There is an RFI in the works, to be published in Dec, not sure exactly when. Ask Pauline what she'd like: a short call with me about what’s developing; she may know Archie, who's working on the data side, and he could either talk with ‘Matt (whom he knows) directly or the four of us could talk; both? Looping in Josh ta handle scheduling for me From: Jessica Thompson [mailto:jthompson@ticas.org] Sent: Monday, November 25, 2013 2:21 PM To: Studley, Jamie Subject: FW: college ratings HiJamie, Per the below, let me know what is the best way to get, a phone call set up! Thanks, Jessica Jessica L. Thompson Senior Policy Analyst The Institute for College Access & Success 1111 16" Street NW, Suite 310 ‘Washington DC, 20036 Phone: (202) 223-6060 x601 ithompson@ticas.org www. ticas.org From: Pauline Abernathy Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 6:32 PM To: Studley, Jamie Ce: Jessica Thompson Subject: RE: college ratings Thanks Jamie, it would help us provide more constructive feedback if we had a bit more information about what you are thinking (not sure if that will be in the RFI or when then RFI will be issued). To ensure ‘what we submit is helpful and on point and to provide ‘you with some constructive feedback in December, it would be great if we could schedule at least one and ideally two calls with you and/or someone else at the Dept in December. The first call would be short and would be for us to get a better sense of your thinking/issues you are wrestling with. The second 3would be for us to provide you with initial feedback in advance of our more detailed written comments. 've cc’d Jessica who can help figure out the best time for the call(s). Thank you! Pauline From: Studley, Jamie [mailto:Jamie.Studley@ed.gov] Sent: Friday, November 15, 2013 9:02 PM To: Pauline Abernathy Subject: RE: college ratings Thanks! That's a hard one to answer: we're working away on the project and will be able to use comments we get in January, but since | know TICAS often has insights that could shape our thinking, maybe point us ina good direction, I'm also eager to hear what you're thinking as soon as possible. Are you asking about general comments, or a specific response to the forthcoming RFI on the data and metrics side? If you're thinking of the kind of detailed data/metries/definitional etc work that you do so well also no need to wait, Makes me wonder — would a call be useful, to get a flavor of what you're thinking and when how it might fit? From: Pauline Abernathy [mailto:pabernathy@tticas.ora] Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2013 6:05 PM To: Studley, Jamie Subject: college ratings HiJamie! I hope you are settling in well at ED. We are working on comments and recommendations on college ratings and wondered when the Dept needed them by in order to be able to consider ‘them. We've been planning on submitting them in January in order to give it the thought we think it deserves, but given recent events | wanted to make sure that would not be too late for them to be considered. Thanks. Pauline Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The Institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 www.ticas.org and wwnw.projectonstudentdebt.org,From: Lauren Asher Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 9:51 PM To: Appel, Jeff; Gast, Sara; Kanter, Martha; Protopsaltis, Spiros; Studley, Jamie ce: Pauline Abernathy Subject: Embargoed Until 12:01pm ET Wed. 12/4; Student Debt & the Class of 2012 Attachments: embargoed Student Debt_and the Class of 2012_NR.PDF; embargoed_classof2012,paf FYI Attached are embargoed copies of the press release and report we're releasing for publication tomorrow (Wednesday, 12/4) at 12:01p.m. Eastern Time. Student Debt & the Class of 2012 is our eighth annual report on the student loan debt of new college graduates. Please do not circulate until the embargo is lifted. ‘Among the highlights: college graduates who borrowed for bachelor’s degrees granted in 2012 had an average student loan debt of $29,400. Seven in 10 college seniors (71%) who graduated last year had student loan debt. One-fifth of their debt was in private loans, which are typically more costly and provide fewer consumer protections and repayment options than safer federal loans. Average student debt levels vary widely by state as well as by college, with high-debt states remaining concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, and low-debt states mainly in the West and South. To view debt levels forall 50 states plus the District of Columbia and more than 2,000 individual U.S. colleges and universities, visit our companion interactive map after 12:01 p.m. Eastern Time on Dec. 4 at htto://projectonstudentdebt.org Lauren Asher, President ‘The Institute for College Access & Success 405 14th Street, 11th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612 phone: 510-318-7900, x304 fax: 510-318-7918 email: Yasher@icas.org verurticasore, www. projectonstudentdebtorg www-college-insightorg yawwibrinfo.orecollege Live Peo Jecy on | access success STUDENT DEBT EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE jecember 4, 2013 at 12:01 PM Eastern CONTACTS: Shannon Gallegos Gretchen Wright Bill Swindell 510/318-7915 202/371-1999 510/318-7902 Average Student Debt Climbing: $29,400 for Class of 2012 New report includes state-by-state and campus-by-campus debt levels (Oakland, CA) ~ College graduates who borrowed for bachelor's degrees granted in 2012 had an average student loan debt of $29,400, according to a new report from the Project on Student Debt at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS). Seven in 10 college seniors (71%) who graduated last year had student loan debt. Even though the financial crisis caused a steep decline in private education lending while these borrowers were in school, one-fifth of their debt was in private loans, which are typically more costly and provide fewer consumer protections and repayment options than safer federal loans. From 2008 to 2012, average debt (Federal and private loans combined) increased an average of six percent each year. The report, Student Debt and the Class of 2012, includes lists of high- and low-debt states and colleges around the country and highlights significant differences among colleges and states. For example, new college graduates with loans owed almost twice as much on average in Delaware as in New Mexico, and in five states average debt was more than $30,000. The odds of having student loans also differed from state to state, with 2012 graduates nearly twice as likely to have debt in South Dakota as in Nevada. At the college level, the share of graduates with loans and their average debt covered an even wider range. Federal surveys only collect the data needed to calculate national average debt figures for new graduates once every four years (including 2012), and colleges are not required to report their own graduates’ debt. To estimate state-by-state averages and identify high- and low-debt schools for this report, TICAS used figures provided voluntarily by more than half of all public and private nonprofit four- year colleges. For-profit colleges, which accounted for seven percent of 2012 bachelor’s recipients, are not included in these estimates because virtually none chose to share their data. ‘The findings come as unemployment remains high compared to before the financial crisis. In 2022, 7.7, percent of young college graduates were unemployed, and a broader measure capturing under- employment showed 18.3 percent were either unemployed, working fewer hours than they wanted, or had given up looking for a job. Stil, young adults without college degrees face far worse job prospects: 17.9 percent of young high schoo! graduates with no college were unemployed in 2012. “Despite discouraging headlines, a college degree remains the best route to finding a job in this tight market. But students and families need to know that debt levels can vary widely from college to college,” said TICAS president Lauren Asher. “If you need to borrow to get through school, federal student loans are the safest way to borrow. Whatever you earn, income-driven plans like Pay As You Earn can help keep federal loan payments manageable.” State highs and lows: State averages for borrowers’ debt at graduation in 2012 ranged from $18,000 to $33,650. High-debt states remain concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, with Delaware the highest. New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Rhode Island also had average debt over $30,000. Low-debt states were mainly in the West and South, with New Mexico the lowest. Other low-debt states include California, Arizona, Nevada, and Wyoming. College highs and lows: At the campus level, average debt varied even more widely, ranging from {$4,450 to $49,450, and the share of students graduating with loans ranged from 6 percent to 100 percent. Colleges with higher tuition tended to have higher average debt, but there are many examples of high-cost colleges with relatively low average debt, and vice versa. The report notes that colleges that receive scrutiny for their voluntarily reported debt levels may be more likely to stop providing such data. For example, 20 percent of the schools on the list of high-debt public colleges in our 2011 report, and 30 percent of the schools on the list of low-debt colleges, chose not to report data in 2012. In comparison, overall only 10 percent of all the colleges that reported debt data for 2011 didn’t report for 2012. Need for better data: Even for those colleges that do report voluntarily, the college-level debt figures in the report may understate actual borrowing because they don't include transfer students or any private loans the college is unaware of. The report's state estimates are based on the available college-level data, so actual state averages may be higher as well. ‘The best national figures for public and nonprofit colleges combined show that 68 percent of their graduating seniors owed an average of $27,850 in student loans. These are lower than the overall national figures because they do not include for-profit college graduates, who are more likely to borrow and graduate with more debt. The report contains several policy recommendations to help ease student debt burdens, including collecting better college-level data on debt at graduation and private student loan borrowing, as well as more comprehensive data on graduation rates. “Right now, some colleges escape accountability by opting not to report their graduates’ debt, while those who do report are stuck on an unequal playing field,” said Matthew Reed, the report's primary author. “Students, researchers, and policymakers need and deserve better and more complete Information." ‘This issue Is especially crucial as President Obama has proposed developing ratings before the 2015 school year aimed at helping consumers compare colleges' value and encouraging institutions to Improve. “The success of the President's proposal to rate colleges based on access, affordability, value, and student outcomes will depend on the quality of the data used in the ratings, underscoring the Urgency of gathering better information,” said TICAS research director Debbie Cochrane. NOTE: The report will be available online tonight under embargo. Hyperlinks in the report to the Projectonstudentdebt.org and College-InSight.org sites will not reflect updated data for the Class of 2012 until Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 12:01 p.m. Eastern Time. aan ‘An independent, nonproft organization, The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) works to make higher education more ‘owailable ond offordabe for people ofa backgrounds, TICAS' Project on Student Debt works to increase public understonding of rising student debt and the implications fr our families, economy, ond society. Follow us on DwrterSTUDENT DEBT AND THE CLASS OF 2012 DECEMBER 2013 + LAND “DELAWARE COgrs 7 MING sas a Ns college Ritarditteaan | Pa eecciee STUDENT DEBTSTUDENT DEBT AND THE CLASS OF 2012 ‘TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW STUDENT PEST BY STATE Toble b High-Deba Stetes Table 2: Low-Deat States Teble 3: Percentage of Graduates with Debt and Ave-age Debt of tose vita Loans, ay State Wrat Data are Inchdedin te State Averages? STUDENT DEBT AT COLLEGES Hig Deot Colleges Table 4 High-Debt Private Nonprofi Calleges and Universities Teble 5: Higw-Deot Puatic Colleges and Universities Were Ave Trey Now? Low-Deot Colleges Teh 6: Loy Debt Coliegos aad UJaiv'sities A.Note on Far-Pivit Colleges: PRIVATE (NON-FEDERAL) LOANS RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ADDRESSING RISING STUDENT DEBT APPENDIX: DETAILED METHODOLOGY aoe w 16 aOVERVIEW State averages for debt at graduation ranged widely Jn 2012, from $18,000 to $33,650, ond graduating seniors’ likelihood of having debt ranged from 41 percent to 78 percent. page 1 OLDE DRE" SHE Student Debt and the Class a 2012 is our eighth annual report on the cumulative student foan Uebt af recent graduates trem four-year colleges. Qur analysis finds that the debt levels of students hho graduate with loans continue to rise, with considerable variation armong states as well 3 ‘among colleges. ‘Seven in 10 college seniors whe graduated in 2012 had student loan debt, with an average of 4323.40 ‘or those with loans” The national share of seniors graduating with loans rose i recent ‘yeas, ‘tor 68 percent in 2008 ta 71 percent in 2012, while their debt at graduation increased by {an average of six percent per year Even thaugh the financial crisis caused a substantial dectine in private education lending while these borrowers were in school, about one-ith (20%) oftheir debt is comprised of private loans, which are typically rove costly and provide ‘ewer consurver protections and tepayrent options than safer ‘ederal loans State averages ‘or debt at graduation ranged widely in 2012, fror~ $18,000 to $33,650, and traduating seniors’ likeinoad of having debt ranged rom 41 percent to 78 percent. In five states, Average debt was more than $30,000. Figh-debt states remain concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, with lowe-debt states mainly in the West and South. See page 4 for state-by-state debt figures. ‘Average debt varias even mare atthe college evel than atthe state level, ror $4,450 to 849,450. Colleges with higher costs tend lo have higher average debl, but there are many exae-ples of high-cost colleges with low average debi, and vice versa. For more ahout debt at the college level including lists ef high- and low-debt schcols, see page 7. Its important to nate that the siete and colleg» debt figures in this teport reflect ony graduates of public and private nenproft‘ouryea collages, hecause so lew for-ysolit colleges choose to report the necessary vata. Ever fou yeas, including 2012, a federal survey collects the data needed 10 calcviare raviona dt ngires for new graduates ofall types of colleges, However, this survey does Pot provide state- ex college-level dala, and celles are not recuired to report their oven graduates! dels, Thal is why we use data provided voluntarily by many public and nonprofit colleges to testimate state averages and icentiy high- and low-debt schools, The vast majority ofthe Class o* 2012 graduated from public and nonprofit colleges Nationally, 68 percent of 2012 graduates of public and private nonproit four-year colleges hag student debt, with an average of $27,850 per borrower These are lower than the overall national Figures because they do nat inciuce for-profit college graduates, who are more likely to borrow anh ‘graduate with more debt, For more about for-proit colleges, see pase 13. ‘The limitations of relying on voluntarily reported dats underscore the need ‘or federal collection ‘of student debt data lor all schools, Even for colleges that do report voluntarily, the debt figures in the report may understate actual borrowing because they do not include transfer students or any private loans the college was unaware of, “he report's state estimates are based on the available college-level data, so actual state averages may be higher as wel Having to repay student loans can pose particular challenges for eecent graduates who cannot find ‘any or enough work, particulatly if they have private loans, During the time many mer-bers ofthe Class of 2012 were entering the job market, the unemployrment rate for young, calege graduates ‘was 7.7 percent, a decrease from B.8 percent cne year earlier but sll higher than the levels seen ose aust he ie trl dl onan ih ya ctaosor penne ssa rt rye tts Deol Ceo aco osha an ac ce Ap Acs ries ee er mtathsta risa nent she ole Cis 200s san et its sees doe) “Peles cles eobefore the revent financial criss’ In addition, traditional unemployment rates do not capture those considered underemplayed. A broader measure that includes bath unemployment and Undererployrment shows that 18.3 percent o" young college graduates were werking fewer hours than they wanted, were net working but stil looking “or otk, oF had given up looking or work. While these facts are tioualing, recent research underscores the stiong employment and earings prospects ‘or those with collage degrees. On average, ‘our-year college graduates continue to ‘experience ‘ar less uner=playrent and to ear higher salaries than their counterparts with only 2 high school education '“he unersployrent rate ‘or young high schosl graduates was 179 percent in 2012, more than double the rate ‘or young college graduates * \When student borrowers face unexpectedly low earnings, income-driven repay ent progrars can help, Designed to keep loan payrments manageable al any income level Incor~e-Based Repayment (BR) has been available to ‘ederal student loan borrowers since 2009, Class c* 2012 eraduates, may also have access to Pay As You Earn (PAVE), which forgives any remaining debt after 20 rather than 25 years in repayment, and is available to students who first borrowed federal student loans ater Seplember 30, 2007 and received a disbursement ater September 30, 2011 ‘Many lactors influence student debl levels foreach graduating class and the rate of increase over time, such as changes in college costs, farvily resources, and need-based grant aid. For many 2012 sraduntes, their college years care during a ime af incieasing college costs and stagnant ‘amily Fesources, Slate budget cuts ed to sharp tution inereases at many public colleges, increasing students’ need to borrow. On the other hand, available grant aid (Federal, state, institutional, ond private cor bined) increased while the Class of 2072 was in college, nciuding a substantial increase to the federal Pell Grant, the largest need-based jrant prograr®, in 200916” Borrowing levels almost certainly would have been highe: were it nct fur ineraaced grant aid during this period: This report includes poliey secar1eridaiian: te adziess rising student debt, including collecting, ‘more comprehensive collee-level data, Cther recorer-endations facus on reducing the need tc borrow, improving consumer information, strengthening college accountability, and protecting private loan borrowers. For rare about these recomendations, see page 16. A carmpanion interactive map with details “or all $0 slates, the District of Columbia, anc nore than 1,000 public and private nonprofit four-year colleges is avellable at projectonstudentdeblove/ slate by state-data pho. St ude ater sarge 9°% 20 habia tral dia weg tack to HM. Tes sen mat its et von Pon ey pod tae Li Sets BS) carseat cao nto nah sessop shen the cae ton ppb oh 9 ae Dw rob erty 09 WH 20'S wre cots costae hie Scoyeic cytes 30-3 Th Cf 2013 omg rants st oe im rpc at ee bite 20s wale ab aol Ped Sere 28,20 secega See 208 Geno oe 208 at colonels 8.0450 snrnnctis nach 2912 Te teu soy aoe ev cunt sto atin serge ao Fst aan $400 7028 cnt ca (Undone yes once det ceare:evacone mn cee art 9s Had nS Bl 200STUDENT DEBT BY STATE TABLET Finns cs Delaware $33649 New Mexico $17,994 ‘The statewide average deat levels for tne Cless of 2012 very widely emnong Le states, out mast cof fae semne stetes 22208" at 1 hig’ end low ends ofthe spectrum 2§ in previous yeers." We base state averages on the best avalleale college-level deta, whicn were reported voluntarily ay 11075 public and private nonprofit four-year colleges forthe Class of 2012, The following taoles show tre states wits the highest end lowest average debt levels for the Cless of 2012. fas in pest yeas, hign-deat states are mneinly in the Northeast and Midwest, wits low-deot states miinly 11 the West and South, TABLE 2 New Hamashire 532,698 California 320,269 Pennsylvania See Tizone 320,299 Minnesote $31,497 Nevade $20,568 Rhode Island 531156 wyoming $2,247 Towa’ $29,456 Ute 821520, Maine 929,352 Tennessee 21775 New lesey. 325,287 District of Couurbia $22,106 ‘Ohio $2303 Kentucky $22,388 Michigan | 325,840 Touisiana $22,789 In general, private nonprofit calleges have higher costs than public ones, and higher average costs at te state or college level ae associated with nigher average deat. However, Lieve are many colleges with high costs and low debt, and vice versa. Muliple factors influence ‘average college debt levels, such as endowment resources available for financial aid, student ‘demographics, state policies, institutional financial aid packaging policies, and the cost of living inthe local ee2. Fa: more aoout debt at the collage level, alease see Student Debt at Colleges 07 page 7.The following teble shor ‘each ate’s average debt ord p-opo-tion of students with loans iy the Class af 2012, lang with information aout the emiount of usable data ectually availoale for pact state” TABLE 3 Pec ccuacchU une oae sutras snout R eho Institutions class of 2012 natatons | radutes State ond Rank | %withDebt} Rank Total Usable “ Peet Tas "6a z % a = oa Als $28 782 TL %6 5 z oa rao $70795, a] oa = tr a oT pakarses a 36 z 2 oe Caos % a 7 Bi Cokveds 324540 30[ sa @ | i ea Connecti 76 Ton 2 B 5 oe Balowore Baca ee a i sais] | seep 5 wa] | ‘a % 2 $7,009] —— 37] % 5 2 Hewaii | 9 3 iho Raa ae 7 3 é Tn 3 Bl oa 3B % i nine $7786 ve] oe 3 8 = fave sae qa 3 5a 2 Kansas a7 |e 7% 2 T Fenty saa ai] 3 2 % Tasos 2768 wo] 8 a 2 7 Wine 7% A ny 7 arid e| sess B 3 20 Messachuat Baral ‘ase 70 w a8 Wictzan 5800 ‘ol ere 3 si 30 Wes s1497 a|_70% a 2% 2 Wisi to] are a v7 3 ison se] 63% %6 Ea Fa‘TABLE 3 (CONTINUED) ances ure acie UL UCN LESLIE MeN aSiUaXcl t]he Seu ey each eoLLuis Institutions Class of 2012 Gaagonting) Graduates State coe Rank | %withDebt| Rank Total Usable a Feeney Montane, B2TA7S 8 Gas B 0 3 Nebresea 326473 B 6%, 16 24 2 Nevade S20568 a A a e New Hemashire 532,698, Zl 74%6 z 5 9 New Jersey. $23,287 8 5% a 38 20 New Mexico 7994 a8, 1% 2 0 4 New vork 325.557 2 60% 23 ve 8a, North Carolina $23,895 32 59% 26 ol 2 North Dakota a a a Ohio 3 é a a2 ‘Oklahoma 3 6 E 18 Oregon 2 3 29 16 Pennsylvanie 3 4 126 BL Rhode Island) | a. 7 ‘South Caroline of _ “36 a 7, 20% South Dakota 25121) eam 28 | i 3 & B16) Tennessee ana s7i775 | eames | 5B 29 46 25 Ba exes $24,030 3 56% 30 a7 76%. Utah 521520 aa 50% 2 8 2% $28,299 8 6386 18 7 7586 Viginie ow 29 60% 46 38. 97%, ‘Washington $23,293, 36 56% 32 34 16 arm, West Virg 2 Bae 38 2 0 788% Wisconsin 14 68% 8 39 28 85% Wyomnin a5 78 En 1 1 100%MUSE VHD) SV Aoel [elk o} toll] is osu visy Wat XC) Several organizations conduct annual surveys of colleges that include questions about student loan debt, including U.S. News & World Report, Peterson's (publisher of its own college guides), and the College Board, To make the process easier for colleges, these “organizations use questions from a shared survey instrument, called the Common Data Set (CDS). Despite the name “Common Data Set.” there is no actual repository or “sel” of data. Each surveyor ‘conducts, follows up, and reviews the results of its own survey independenlly. For this analysis, we licensed and used the data from Peterson's". For more detail on the data and our methodology, please see Appendix A, The state averages are calculated using data voluntarily reported by campus officials at 1,075 colleges, which are not audited or reviewed by any outside entity, For their data to be considered usabie for calculating state averages, colleyas lad to repart both the percentage of gravvating students with Io and their average debt and reyort thet they awarded bachelor’s degrees during the 2011412 year. As shown in Table 3, we did not calculate state averages for North Dakota because the usable cases with student ‘debt data covered less than 30 percent of bachelor's degree recipients in the Class of 2012, or for Hawall because the underlying data for that state showed a c’change of 30 percent or more in average debt from the previous year, Such large year-to-year swings likely reflect different institutions reporting each yeat, reporting errors, or changes in methodology by institutions reporting the data, rather than actual changes in debt levels. We weight the state averages: according to the size af the graduating class (number of bachelor's degree recipients during the 2011-12 year) and the proportion of graduating seniors with debt. “The state averages and rankings in this report are sot directly comparable to averages in previous years’ reports, due to changes in whica cclleges in teach state report daia ench year, corrections to the ‘underlying data submitted! by colleges, and changes in methadology.STUDENT DEBT AT COLLEGES vans 7 Stusde-t debt levels ca very considerebly eneng colleges due to 2 nuniser of facto's, such as differences in tuition and fees, living expenses in the local area, the demographic makeup af the ‘graduating class, the availability of need-based ai from colleges and states, colleges’ financial aid aolicies and practices, tre exte xt to whicn 22-ents take out Parent PLUS lo2%s, and, zt pudlic colleges, tye extent of out-aFstate enrollment. Even colleges witn similar auilished prices «an have very different debt levels. For example, Chicago State University has relatively high average debt, while No-theester” Hlinois University has elatively lw average deat, Bath are pubic four-yee” colleges wita tuition and fees of ebout $8,000-89,000, and tre mejorty of ter undergraduates cone fram low-income sousetolds. Students 2d feriles often look at the oublis ted tution andl fees for a college as an indiceto bf alfordabilily, However, students attending college need lo cover the fll “cost of altenclance” which also includes the Cost of Books and suoples, living expe ses (room end board), Lrensportation, and iscelle neous personal evsenses. Many studerts receive grants and scholarships that offset some of these costs, and colleges that appear financially out of based on sticker price may actually be affordable because they offer significant giant ai. ch Net price celculetars, recuired on almost ll callege websites since October 2011, enasle consumers to look past sticker price and get an early, individualized estimate of what a specific college nigrt cast them, Net price is the full cost of ettendance ius exaected grants end scholershigs, aad it can oe mucn lower then the sticker price. Ina -ecent poll, the migjorty of students surveyed ruled out colleges aesed on sticser orice alone ‘At some of the "most expensive schools in the country the net price fo~ iow- end maderete- income s'uderts ca be lowor than zt many public colleges, Lecause of financial aid packaging policies ed considerable cesaurces fo’ need-aesed zid fom endowments and fundraising, This in tuon contributes to eletively law average dest at graduation. At some schools, enralling 2 sell shave of students wita low end moderate incomes may also cont-inute to low student deat levels Other factors can aflect the way colleges report the debt figures used inthis analysis. There are differences in how colleges interpret the relevant survey questions and calculate thei average debt figures, despite attempts to previde clear definitions and instructions.” There are also calleges that do nat report these figures at all or fal to update them. Of the 1.955 public and private nonprofit four-year colleges in the USS. that granted bachelor’s degrees during the 201 12 year, 1,075 - just 55 parcent - reported figures for both average debt an percent with debt Sore colleges erase not to respond to the survey used to collect {nese data, or choose nat to respond to the student debt questions ivate loan dest, and even law deat when paired with iow earnings, can leeve students wits unm rage2 ale payments anc old them a2c< from starting a susiness, starting 2 family, ouying 2 10-Ne, or saving fo~ retirement. Below, we highlight key recommendations for addressing rising student debs, including reducing the risks and burdens of debt.* 1. Reduce students! need to borrow. Students borrow when savings, earnings, and grant aid are not sufficlent to cover college costs. Need-based grants velo limit hoor much students need to o0-row end wore wile in seo0l, out tte purchesing 2ower of the fede-al Pell Grent es declined sharalyin recent decedes, Ta close gaps in college ervollimet ed cornoletion betwee aign- end low: incorne students, we recoramend that Congress dovsle the nexium Pell grent and also ‘consider maintenance-of-effort provisions to ensure that new federal dollars supplement ~ rather than supplant ~ state and other forms of higher education turing and financial aid 2. Provide students with key information when they need it TTomake wise decisions about wee to go to college end yow to pay fori, students ond their families need clear, timely, and cor yparble formation about cosis, finencial aid, and typical outcomes. That is wy we euppet t22 my rove nent end pro nation of important federal tools and processes tat 2 2vide nove and bette: consume” information thoughout tre college process = FAFSAAcaster, Tie FAFSAAcaster is the U.S. Department af Education's free financial ail calevletor tended to provide students wit zn e2-ly estimate of ther eligibility for federal student ai? However, it would be 20th easie: to use end provide better estimates if uses could electronically tiersfe- their most recent tex or W-2 information into the dcaster in the seme wey thet applicants cav transfer tet tax date wre comaleting the online Free Application for Fedeval Student Aid (FAFSA) and when plying for an incomne-driven re2ayenent plan for federel student lazns, + College Scorecards. The College Sco’eca'd is # ane-page form developed by the Obema Administetion to nelo consumers quickly end easily understand the chances af cornateting, 20--oning, endrg ua wity vign debt, 2nd defaulting at any particular school.” However, f° this tool to avovide the stost useful information, the federal government must collect bette” college-level date ov student borroxving and completion, lke those discussed dela, + Not Price Calculators. Almast a colleges are tecuired by federal law to post online “net price calculators" to help students and families slat figuring out which colleges they might be able to afford, before they have to decide where to apply, Untortunately, our ste Msn and ds Hongo esl Se ide Colige son Sree i eessSsl at = Faraday, ona enchants Sesto ose 1s. Seger Sewer 3. Galige Seaman! lagna gmat HCAS ROC" CHIS LEE LE page 16page? 2 research has found that many calculators are hard to find, use, and compare.” Recent aidance fo the Deozrtnert 725 ael2ed, but more "ewizins to be dove to ensure that the calculetors lve ua to Heir potential = Allow Students to Apply for Aid Earlier. Cu-rertl, te soalication for fede’al student aid (known as the FAFSA) recuies very -ecent tax date, whic nary azalicants and their sorents do aot have yhen its time to zaoly for college, Catculeting zid eligibility Using {2 tax or WW-2 date availzale when studevts tyaically apaly to college would dreraticelly siralify Me process fo” bath stude ts and schools (eg. using 2012 tax ate when eaclying in 2013 fo- academic yee" 2014-15 instead of requiring the use fof 2013 tax dete). The Natianel Association of Student Friencial Aid Advainistratars (ASFA) has endo'sed tris cnenge and highlighted that Congress in 2008 geve the Depe-t nent 2utaarity to pilot nis promishig eoproach, = Shopping Sheet. Jointly developed oy tre Department end bye Consume’ Finacial Protection Bureau (CFPB), (ve "Shossing Sree is 2 voluntary ode format for college financial aid offers. The goals to make it easy lor students who have been accepted to. college to urxdesstand end conzere the "ee! cost of attending that college. So far, move then 1,800 colleges ave agreed to use tre Shopping Sheet.” Toersure tet dents receive clea’ and co™2"aake information From every college to whic trey are admitted, we support ainertisan legislation torecuie all calopes “eceiving fedeval zid to use a similer stendardized forme. 3, Collect better date on student debt and ouitcomes ‘tudsnts and ierities need aett>r infor tio about costs end studestoutcanes when Ineki7g collere croices, and improvements in the collection end avalaaility of student deta ike tose discussed below are necessa’y fo acrieve Liat goal, The success of te President's proposal to rate colleges based on access, affordability, value, and student ‘outcomes will alse depend on the culty af te data used in toe “tings, underscoring the urgency of gathering aetter dete. + Collect College-Level Information about Debt at Graduation Including Private Loan Debt, When deciding whether and wae-e to go ta college, students should know not just frei craace af greduating but thelr ctiance of g-aduatig with deot, particulzy fiscy avivate loen debt, as well as the everege amaunt of deat borrowers graduate wits at cae college, However, comprehensive school-level date on cumulative deat and privete loan aor-onving are nat aveilzole, which fs wy our en-uat -egort on graduates dest must rely on patal voluntarily provided e1d ovivately collected data, Wit’ “minor evhariernents to its enual survey of colleges (know 2s IPEDS), the Department could 20°. Aint ap 22: A Clg et Pee Cakes EF on Cpa? Mg i's Celgene tees. 20 9 wove ves Cages one Pe Ce igs and Bor on Trg PO Gare Aco Ut aaa esa aed seca tio. es 2S ttf ger ean el Hoe Ae earl Ae Finca A Sn hoc ip sep gucnlsoeadtosde ae eens sagas Ere Ocee 320 1S. Sele, Ocal Sata ak Une ue ost of Colape sn oars agnca ese iene ane Ge fe hess Sein FACTSHEET we Pesce lta Mole Cage re Afr A Ate Beg she ia pe SLORYMAL Zs us roel parse ie saa ‘0 la Ha, Gay. ao Rash eras ep Fomor ts Br necseevaton ehcollect and/or calculate betler debt Figures right away. Ultimately, the best way to provide accu’ate and comprehe sive dete on privete loan borrowing while “aiming tre reporting ouiden for colleges is for tie Desert ment to collect tre data directly fro" lenders, using te system throug wich lenders ov'tently port on every fede”2l lozn, This would enable 2Ik aor-awers to See all tieir loans, fede-al 2nd orivete, in one place ‘and receive loa counseling basedi on their total student debt * Collect Better Graduation Rate Data Immediately. Planned chenges to IPEDS clude 2 substantial and imaortent exaansion of tre gredustior-rate deta that eve collected and repo’ted-” Far the frst time, these data would be collected not just for first-time fulltime undergraduates, but also for part-time and non-lirst-time undergraduates, However, tne Dese-tment -ecently aroaased delaying the collection of these data until 2015-16 instead of maving forwaed immediately 4, Strengthen college accountability While students 2-¢, and should 2e, reld accountaole for studying and making arogress, toward a credential. there eve few consecuerces for scnools thet fal to graduate lerge heres of studeats or consistently leave students with debts they cennat repay. We recone nd mo’e closely tying a college's elignilty far unding to the risk students teke 2y ‘enrolling and tae ris« taxpayers t20ut student deat zt colleges inthis report are oased on the 1005 colleges that znswered bot’ overall debt questions (Ha and HS in the above CDS excerpt) for tre Cless of 2012, and veaorted tnat they awarded et least 100 bechelo”s degrees for the Cless of 2012. We exclude colleges wit” sill gaduating classes because their student ‘debt data for @ given year are rnore likely lo be influenced by the borrowing of just one or two students, In addition, nese colleges renresent 2 very small s1ave ofthe graduating class (1% of, the bachelors degree recipients at public and private nanproit four-year colleges in 2011-12), and tnei-very sll gredvating classes nace tei deat levels less meeningtul for consumer o policy purposeTUBENT BESTjergh, Jon From: S00, David Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 836 AM To: Culatta, Richard; Sanders, lames Subject: FW: An Invitation from Secretary Ame Duncan Invitation went to this group, who should have already gotten a save-the-date, Cable Green ; Bror Saxberg (bror.saxberg@kaplan.com); pooja@piazza.comy aaron@pathsource.com; abrahamm@google.com; Allison Pingree@hks. harvard.edu; rota@fas.harvard.edu; armandofox@gmail.com; seanm@berkeley.edu; aubry.threlkeld@gmail.com; audrey. watters@gmail.com; miller @newamerica,net; bobby @applvkit.com; bret@worrydream.com; longbr@gse.harvard.edu; Burck Smith (bsmith@straighterline.com); clight@fas.harvard.edu; ceciia@goranku.com; dell@bu.edu; cwinship@wih.harvard.edu; gsedean @gse.stanford.edu; Charris@worldbank.org; dbp@it.lith.ac.in; Denaw@possefoundation org; donna_heiland@emerson.edu; donna.qualters@tufts.edu; dtingley@gov.harvard.edu; edward kariss@yale.edu; edocter@showevidence.com; egordon@cvber.law.harvard.edu; erinrist@broadinstitute.org; erik.duval@cs.kuleuven.be; glopez@montereyinstitute.org; gcramer@futuresinc.com; gsiemens@gmail.com; veletsianos@gmail.com; greg @eecs harvard.edu:; tucci@fas.harvard.edu; heather.rowan-kenyon.1@be.edu; hienkins@fas.harvard.edu; jaidroos@fas.harvard.edu; jdowling@ktenyc.org; jennifer frederick@vale,edu; jimgroom@gmail.com; JMcCorkell@collezenossible.org; james.rolf@yale.edus jim waldo@harvard.edu; ‘Morealoseph@thda.edu; johanna _gutlerner@hms.harvard.edu; jose@knewton.com; jbookin@gmail.com iosh jarrett7 @gmail.com; joshua.mn kim@dartmouth.edu; wheatcasie@thda.edu; wilkowski@google.com; kathy takayama@brown.edu; katie vale@harvard.edu; zolot@mit.edu; kwelbeck@mit.edu; Inovick@letsgetready.org; lfinger@fas.harvard.edus Linda Thor (thorlinda@fhda.edu); mecarty@fas.harvard.edu; epstein@music.umass.edu; maggie|@google.com; mbrown@educause.edu; mlevine@seas harvard edu; mks49@georgetown.edu; mseltzer@ff.org; msorcinelli@acad.umass.edu; Matthew Muench (mmuench@joycefdn.org); matthew miller@gse,harvard.edu; mpittinsky@parchment.com; mreed@ticas.org; matt@khanacademy.org; imheller@fas.harvard,edu; Michael Staton (mpstaton@ inigral.com}; m.sweet@neu.edu; mwk@stanford.ed presidentgarcia @fullerton.edu; naune@edx.org; Neeru@ck12.org; mills@fas.harvard.edu; pablo@proven, com; pmayer@vige.org; paul-olivier.dehaye@math.uzh.ch; psimakov@google.com; peter_bol@harvard.edu; peter.vanroy@uclouvain.be; longpd@ua.edu.au; phil megachey@harvard.edu; pgbovine@email.com; pierre andre.vungoc@megill.ca;fishmanr@newamerica.net; reif@MIT.EDU; gravishanker@wellesley.edu; dalton@collegefes.org; rap42 @georgetown.edu; rgenn@bottomline.org; samantha _earp@harvard.edu; katzbourns@fas harvard edu; pomerantz steve @gmail.com; sclancy@fas.harvard.edu; sue@alltuition.com; s.ambrose@neu.edu; tp64@cornell.edu; timlindgren@gmail.com; tina grotzer@harvard.edu; wig8@georgetown edu: william.rando@yale.edus; xavier@antoviaque.com; yarkot1 @gmail.com; Zakiya Smith (zsmith@luminafoundation.org); alex.grodd@betterlesson,com; anne@zinch.com; Culatta, Richard S00, David Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 8:35 AM To: Datapalooza Ce: Sanders, James; Soo, David ‘Subject: An Invitation from Secretary Arne Duncan Dear Colleague: In today’s knowledge-based economy, getting a postsecondary education has never been more important. At the same time, it has never been more expensive. In August, President Obama outlined a bold agenda for 1ensuring that higher education provides a good value for students. A key component of this strategy is to harness innovation that will increase quality, reduce costs, and improve outcomes. ‘The Department of Education would like to invite you to participate in a Data Jam on December 11, 2013, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or on December 15, 2013, at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. These will be working sessions where entrepreneurs and technology leaders will partner with education experts to brainstorm, develop, and commit to new ideas for tools, services, and apps designed to improve value, affordability, and outcomes in postsecondary education. The tools and other deliverables created from these working sessions will be showcased at a subsequent Datapalooza event taking place in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2014, Harvard, edX, and Stanford will be sending further information in the coming days, but if you are interested in participating, please RSVP now or send questions to Datapalooza@ed.gov. Thank you for all the work you do on behalf of America’s students. Sincerely, Ish Ame Duncan. Seeretary of Education This invitation is non-transferrable.O'Bergh, Jon Buckley, Jack Wednesday, November 27, 2013 9:41 AM Talwalker, Ajita (Alita_RTalwalker@who.eop gov); Gast, Sara; Appel, Jeff; Sheth, Tushar; Protopsaltis, Spiros; Spector, Stephen; Gomez, Robert; Nolt, Dorie; Ritsch, Massie ce: Hunt-White, Tracy; Soldner, Matthew; Chapman, Chris Subject: FW: quicktime sensitive question Attachments: BORAMTI ALL UGs.pdf; BORAMTI ALL UGs by DEGREE PROGRAM.pdf; BORAMTI BA ONLY COLLGRAD Y v COLIGRAD N pdf BORAMT1 BA ONLY SPLIT COMBINE COLLGRAD Y v COLLGRAD N.pdf Importance: High Ajjta, Sara et al., ‘The NPSAS team has produced some rough estimates of various ways to use the data to generate cumulative debt-- include the way we think TICAS will do it. | would say keep these in your back pocket and, if TICAS asks, we can quickly check their numbers for reasonableness. Going forward we can clean up one or more of these tables, double check them, and put out a short-format or web table publication if we need to release something, Best, Jack Jack Buckley, Ph.D, Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education 1990 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20006 Office: (202) 219-7001 Cell: (202) 253-2690 Original Message: From: Soldner, Matthew Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2013 9:25 AM To: Buckley, Jack Cc: Hunt-White, Tracy; Chapman, Chris Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Hil Tracy asked that | re-run the BA only table with a row that combined the public and private non-profit 4 years, because that seems to be close to the method TICAS has used in the past.{'ve done that in the attached POF - | kept the row in there that shows each separately, in case anyone wants to know what's driving the estimate. However, the row you want to focus on is in the bottom half of the table ("Graduating Senior = YES") and is in the second set of sector-wise estimates: "NPSAS Sector = Public and private nonprofit 4-year. As | mentioned, technically 'm only working until 10 AM today, but Ill be lurking on email. Best, Matt Matthew Soldner, Ph.0. National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/ncestaff/StaffDetl.asp2empi From: Soldner, Matthew Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 10:00 PM To: Buckley, Jack Ce: Hunt-White, Tracy; Chapman, Chris Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Tracy: Ran some estimates off of the development server - may give us a head start on what Sara needs, or at least serve as a double-check for a separate run. | used BORAMT! for all these tables, varying: (2) Simply by sector (ALL UGs), (2) By sector by degree program (ALL UGs by DEGREE), (3) By sector by COLLGRAD for BA students only (BA ONLY COLLGRAD Y v N) Let me know what else would be helpful. | should sign on at 8 AM EDT. M Matthew Soldner, Ph.0. National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/ncestaff/StaffDetl.asp?empit From: Soldner, Matthew Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 9:48 PM To: Buckley, Jack lunt-White, Tracy; Chapman, Chris Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Hiall! Unless I'm missing something, we will have a cumulative amount borrowed for undergraduates for the whole NPSAS population (GORAMT!). We can do what we've told Mark Kantrowitz and others NOT to do and use another variable {COLLGRAD) to get BORAMT! for students who institutions/students believe are graduating, That particular status flag is 2neither verified (so its accuracy is dodgy) nor would it be necessarily representative .. this is a BPS year. It may be close enough for a back-of-the-envelope. Do we know how TICAS is planning to "cut" the data (e.g,, sector, degree program)? Tracy or I can do the estimates first thing tomorrow morning, if that'd be helpful, Just let me know! Matthew Soldner, Ph.D. National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/ncestaff/StaffDetl.asp?empi From: Buckley, Jack Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 9:25 PM To: Soldner, Matthew Ce: Hunt-White, Tracy; Chapman, Chris Subject: FW: quick, time sensitive question Matt needs to be on this one, too. How does Sara's proposal sound? This would have to be quick Jack Buckley, Ph.D. Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education 1990 K St NW Washington, DC 20006 (202) 219-7001 From: Menon, Ajita T. [Ajita_R_Talwalker @who.eop.gov] Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 6:47 PM To: Gast, Sara; Appel, Jeff; Buckley, Jack; Hunt-White, Tracy; Sheth, Tushar; Protopsalts, Spiros Cc: Spector, Stephen; Nolt, Dorie; Ritsch, Massie; Gomez, Robert Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Makes sense to me. | had put Lauren in touch with the NCES crew after she reached out to me. if we have the data and feel comfortable doing it, | agree with Sara that itis better to get the factual figure out there. Right now people are using $8’s synthetic number—would definitely prefer having our own federal version even if we don’t advertise it ourselves. From: Gast, Sara {mailto:Sara.Gast@ed.gov] Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 6:43 PM To: Menon, Alita T.; Appel, Jeff; Buckley, Jack; Hunt-White, Tracy; Sheth, Tushar; Protopsaltis, Spiros Ce: Spector, Stephen; Nolt, Dorie; Ritsch, Massie; Gomez, Robert Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Or! As an intermediate step, NCES it would be great if you could let us know what the cumulative debt figure will be just for our internal purposes. We don’t need to commit anything to Lauren now, but knowing both the undergrad cumulative debt figure and the bachelor degree graduates cumulative debt figure will be helpful (also because we use those numbers ourselves and should be as accurate as possible) ~ and then we can gauge the need to correct what TICAS is doing. Is that possible? From: Gast, SaraSent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 6:22 PM To: Talwalker, Ajita (Ajita_R_Talwalker@who.eop.gov); Appel, Jeff; Buckley, Jack; Hunt-White, Tracy; Sheth, Tushar; Protopsaltis, Spiros Cc: Spector, Stephen; Nolt, Dorie; Ritsch, Massie; Gomez, Robert Subject: FW: quick, time sensitive question Just talked with our friend Lauren at TICAS. She let me know that new NPSAS data is coming out on Tuesday the 3rd and that NCES will only be issuing a first-look report for now, and that it wouldn't have cumulative debt figures just yet ~ perhaps we are waiting to clean the data? She's assuming it will be a race between them, Kantrowitz, Deanne Loonin, and others to calculate that number. She knows we aren’t going to publish a cumulative debt figure, but she would like to know if we could privately double-check their math next week. | said | would ask but no promises. (Jack/Tracy, I'm guessing your answer will be no, but from a comms perspective, if their number is really off, that creates a headache for Us if we can ultimately prove it’s lower but we just aren’t saying it. As you know, a lot of people run with TICAS’s debt number. So, just let me know :) TICAS is planning on issuing its annual student debt report on Wednesday at noon after the NPSAS data is released, and she gave me a little taste of what the narrative would say — primarily that institutions need to report clean and accurate data because families need good information to make a decision, and that a lot of the tools currently in development (scorecard, ratings, etc) rely on accurate data. 'm guessing, IBR will also get a mention. ’'m assuming she either will or has already tried to call all of you (she mentioned you two, Ajita and Jeff), so wanted to group-share the readout. Jack and Tracy, she mentioned she had talked to you about the NPSAS release. From: Lauren Asher [mailto:LAsher@ticas.org] Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 4:54 PM To: Gast, Sara Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Great -will try you in about 10. From: Gast, Sara {mailto:Sara.Gast@ed.gov) Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 1:05 PM To: Lauren Asher Subject: RE: quick, time sensitive question Hi Lauren ~ feel free to call whenever you have a chancel I'l be here for another couple hours, at least: 202-401-1989. From: Lauren Asher {mailto:LAsher@ticas.org] Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 3:17 PM To: Gast, Sara Subject: quick, time sensitive question Do you have 5-10 minutes to talk today? We're releasing our annual report on student debt for new college grads next Wednesday, utilizing new NPSAS variables that are due out the day before. | can brief you on the numbers we're planning to crunch and the questions you might get from reporters starting as early as Tuesday afternoon, and check a couple of things with you as well. Lauren Asher, President ‘The Institute for College Access & Success 405 14th Street, 11th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612 phone: 510-318-7900, x304fax: 510-318-7918 email: jasher @ticas.org www.ticas.orgchttp://www.ticas.org> www,projectonstudentdebt.org www .college-insight.orgchttp://www.college-insight.org> www ibrinfo.orgchttp://wnww.ibrinfo.org>O'Bergh, Jon Pauline Abernathy Wednesday, November 20, 2013 6:32 PM Studley, Jamie Jessica Thompson RE: college ratings Thanks Jamie. It would help us provide more constructive feedback if we had a bit more information about what you are thinking (not sure if that will be in the RFI or when then RFI wil be issued). To ensure what we submit is helpful and on point and to provide you with some constructive feedback in December, it would be great if we could schedule at least one and ideally two calls with you and/or someone else at the Dept in December. The first call would be short and ‘would be for us to get a better sense of your thinking/issues you are wrestling with. The second would be for us to provide you with initial feedback in advance of our more detailed written comments. 've cc’d Jessica who can help figure out the best time for the call(s). Thank you! Pauline From: Studley, Jamie [mailto:Jamie.Studley@ed.cov) Sent: Friday, November 15, 2013 9:02 PM To: Pauline Abernathy Subject: RE: college ratings Thanks! That's a hard one to answer: we're working away on the project and will be able to use comments we get in January, but since I know TICAS often has insights that could shape our thinking, maybe point us in a good direction, I'm also eager to hear what you're thinking as soon as possible. Are you asking about general comments, or a specific response to the forthcoming RFI on the data and metrics side? If you're thinking of the kind of detailed data/metrics/definitional etc work that you do so well also no need to wait. Makes me wonder — would a call be useful, to get a flavor of what you're thinking and when how it might fit? From: Pauline Abernathy [mailto:pabernathy@ticas.ora] Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2013 6:05 PM To: Studley, Jamie Subject: college ratings Hi Jamie! I hope you are settling in well at ED. We are working on comments and recommendations on college ratings and wondered when the Dept needed them by in order to be able to consider them. We've been planning on submitting them in January in order to give it the thought we think it deserves, but given recent events | wanted to make sure that would not be too late for them to be considered. Thanks. Pauline Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The Institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 www.ticas.org and www.projectonstudentdebt.orgO'Bergh, Jon From: Bob Shireman and Lande Ajose ‘on behalf of Bob Shireman and Lande Ajose Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 2:30 PM To: Kanter, Martha Subject: Who's Attending California's Community Colleges? Interactive Online Map Dear Friends and Allies, California enrolls one-quarter of all community college students in the nation. With so many students, our community colleges are playing an important role in helping California get the 2.3 million more degrees that it needs by 2025 for vibrant communities and a strong economy. As large as our community college system is, it does not serve everyone who could benefit. To determine where the untapped potential might be greatest across the state, we analyzed enrollment by zip code, and cross-referenced that with U.S. Census data on the number of adults who already have college degrees. The analysis revealed that there are numerous “equity areas" ~ zip codes where few people have degrees and so community college enrollment should be high ~ where too offen enrollment is lagging. This is especially true in the Inland Empire, the San Joaquin Valley, and Los Angeles County. JAn interactive online map paints the picture of ;nrollment in the state, showing community bollege participation for 1700 zip code areas. It allows users to examine each area by Indicators of need, Ronald Loveridge, Former Mayor of Riverside, Icalifornia, said, “These are importante findings. In inland Southem California, we ntinually looking for ways ta identify and enhance the comm unity college pipeline to connect it more effectively with our workforce. This report helps us determine the best ways that v .n support our residents as they start on the community college journey. The online map also shows the location of community colleges and lists the top com nunity colleges attended by students in each zip code, which is important because students often travel to campuses outside of their home Peter Garcia, president of Diablo Valley College said, “Having access to this type of information is invaluable to understanding our community h efforts.” and guiding our outr While community colleges are a critically important avenue for any Californian seeking 2 route to a better future, actual participation suggests that many people who would benefit are not being reached. The research shows that community college enrollment is @ balancing act between location, what the local colleges offer, and how those courses are promoted and supported. ‘As a stale, we can and must use this data to expand access to community college courses, programs and certificates. We can start in areas of the highest need and in loc ions where programs don’t match the local eeds, Having people from every kind of community, ethnicity and personal background succeed academically is essential not just for them, but for the e jomic competitiveness of California,” said Victor Rubin, Vice President for Research at PolicyLink. In California, millions depend on community colleges to access nities that help them succeed in career and in educational oppé life. California has one-quarter of all community college students in the nation, and these men and women play an important role in advancing California's economy. In a growing economy, California's community college system serves everyone, particularly those who struggle with socio-economic bartiers,Ifwe are to have a strong economy and community college system, we must find ways to increase community college participation especially In those areas where few people have college degrees. This means gelting clear on the courses that are needed, working with high schools on outreach programs, finding creative financial incentives for community colleges to enroll and serve adults from high need areas, and collecting the deta to know if it's working, To see our findings, recommendations, and the interactive map, visit hit aliforniacompetes.orainews fents/cccmap/ We also encourage you to tweet and post about the report. Below is sample language that you can copy and paste on social media or use for inspiration’ FACEBOOK Who in California is attending community college? How well served are low-income communities? A new interactive map from California Competes provides this information and more httpy/bitIy/lda7OQ, ‘TWITTER: Many areas of the state that could benefit — where few adults have college degrees ~ are not being reached, Check out our new interactive map http//bit y/lda7OQ Sincerely, Robert and Lande Visit us online at www.californiacompetes.org, Find us on Facebook enlace eeu ems eeott Pr en ea Hunt House, Suite 100 ert eesBergh, Jon From: Cubarrubia, Archie Sent: Friday, November 15, 2013 736 AM To: Studley, Jamie Subject: RE: college ratings It looks fike the RFI will have a January deadline anyway, but if they have a cooked proposal, | don’t think there's a reason we couldn't accept it outside the RF! process. From: Studley, Jamie Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2013 9:22 PM To: Cubarrubia, Archie Subject: FW: college ratings She asks a good question, and once we have an answer we could share it at least with groups we've met with or who ask. What do you think given the pace suggested by the mtng you went to today? TICAS comments cd be valuable, esp if they suggest specific methodologies or solutions, so | may try to meet or get in the phone with them, but it's still a question worth figuring out. Sent from my Windows Phone From: Pauline Abernathy Sent: 11/14/2013 6:04 PM To: Studley, Jamie Subject: college ratings HiJamie! I hope you are settling in well at ED. We are working on comments and recommendations on college ratings and wondered when the Dept needed them by in order to be able to consider them. We've been planning on submitting them in January in order to give it the thought we think it deserves, but given recent events | wanted to make sure that would not be too late for them to be considered. Thanks. Pauline Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The Institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 ww.ticas.org and www.projectonstudentdebt.org,O'Bergh, Jon From: Joseph Mais Sent Thursday, November 14, 2013 4:42 PM. To: Appel, Jeff; Studley, Jamie ce: Pauline Abernathy Subject: FW: TICAS letter to CFPB re - servicing platform glitches Attachments: FPB letter on SallieMae FINAL pdf Jeff and Jamie — TICAS sent the attached letter to the CFPB yesterday expressing our concerns about the impact on borrowers of Sallie Mae’s servicing glitches and asking CFPB to investigate. A short blerb showed up about it on Politico's Morning Education: MAILBAG, STUDENT LOANS EDITION: The Institute for College Access and Success wrote to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that Sallie Mae has made changes that wrongly put some private loan borrowers in delinquency status. “We urge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to investigate this issue to ensure that affected borrowers are made whole and determine whether it affected both private and federal loan borrowers. and what steps are needed to prevent such problems in the future,” senior policy analyst Joseph Mais wrote. http://politi.colt7rzT6s ‘The TICAS letter is attached, Please let me know if you have questions or concerns. Best, Joseph Joseph Mais Senior policy analyst Director, DC office The institute for college access & success Phone: 202-223-6060 x. 602 imais@ticas.org wwwaticas.orgcollege ‘November 13, 2013 access » success Rohit Chopra Student Loan Ombudsman Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 1700 G Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20552 Dear Mr. Chopra: Sallie Mae recently told its investors that changes in its servicing platform have resulted in private education [oan borrowers being wrongly placed in delinquency status. We urge the ‘Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to investigate this issue to ensure that affected borrowers are made whole and determine whether it affected both private and federal loan borrowers and what steps are needed to prevent such problems in the future. Having a student loan reported as in delinquency status can have a devastating impact on a borrower. The assessment of late fees and other penalties may make it difficult for struggling private loan borrowers to get back to current status and can result in significantly increased costs over the life of the loan, Additionally, a borrower's credit can be negatively affected, which can limit access to credit and increase rates associated with borrowing. These effects, even in error, may be difficult and time consuming to reverse. While the CFPB’s complaints database has provided meaningful relief for some private loan borrowers, the lack of mandatory relief options and other borrower protections will continue to limit borrower solutions. ‘These and other recent occurrences highlight the need for greater oversight of private and federal loan servicing. As you know, as a result of poor performance in the servicing of federal loans, Sallie Mac’s share of federal loan volume has been reduced.’ We urge the CFPB to use its authority to enforce laws and servicing standards and to provide rigorous oversight over education loan lenders and servicers. Sincerely, Joseph Mais Senior Policy Analyst See Federal Student Aid's Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) website. Loan Servicing Information = Customer Service Performance Results and Allocation Information. Posted, August 27, 2013. fap ed.cow/eannouncements/082713LoanServinfoCSVPeriResultsAndAllocinfo. htmlO'Bergh, Jon From: Lauren Asher Sent: ‘Thursday, Novernber 07, 2013 5:38 PM To: Gast, Sara; Appel, Jeff; Studley, Jamie; Kanter, Martha; Protopsaltis, Spiros; Mahaffie, lynn Ce: Pauline Abernathy Subject: TICAS blog post on IBR outreach FYI, we blogged today about the new IBR outreach effort, which is great news for struggling borrowers. The post is online at http://views.ticas.org/?p=1242 and also pasted below. Lauren Targeted IBR Outreach Is Underway: Great News for Struggling Borrowers, a Few Tweaks Needed Posted on November 7, 2013 by admin ‘The U.S. Department of Education announced this week that it’s reaching out to about 3.5 million federal student loan borrowers who are carrying higher than average debt or showing signs of financial distress. The goal of the Department's email campaign is to make sure these borrowers know about income-driven repayment options that might make their monthly payments more affordable and keep them from defaulting, We're thrilled that this piece of President Obama’s college affordability plan is being put into action. With rising student loan default rates and a job market stil recovering from the financial crisis, the need is clearly urgent. Our Project on Student Debt developed the policy framework and spearheaded the coalition to create Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Which became available to federal ioan borrowers in 2009. We have since repeatedly called on the Department to do ‘more to make sure borrowers are aware of IBR, including targeted outreach along the lines of this new effort. ‘simply put, people can't benefit from IBR and related plans like Pay As You Earn unless they know about them. They need timely, accurate, and usable information before extended forbearances cause their debts to balloon, delinquencies damage their credit scores, or defaults lead to even more severe consequences, With that in mind, we think the Department could easily increase the impact of its outreach by taking the following steps. We suggest a couple of improvements that should make borrowers more likely to act on the important emails they're getting from the Department: Tell borrowers about the light at the end of the tunnel. The Department's sample outreach email fails to mention that after 20 or 25 years of repayment in an income-driven pian, any remaining debt can be discharged. This is a crucial feature of income-driven plans. But the sample email makes it sound like there is no time limit on payments, unless you ‘qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. It says, "When you make payments based on your income, your loans are paid off over a longer period of time than the standard 10-year plan. While this reduces your monthly payment amount, i also increases the total amount you pay over time. But if you work in public service, you may qualify to have your remaining loan balance forgiven after 10 years of payments.” The fix? The Department's outreach should tell borrowers that income-driven plans not only lower your payments, they also cancel any debt remaining after 20 or 25 years in repayment. Make it easier to for borrowers to get income-driven payment estimates. The sample email also provides a link for borrowers to view estimates of payments in income-driven plans. But when you click on “repayment estimator” you find yourself on the Department's generic home page for federal loan borrowers: studentloans.gov. The only way to see your estimated payments under all plans at once is to sign in to this site using your PIN, but there is no mention of a “repayment estimator.” If you don't know what you're supposed to do, you can easily get lost. The fix? Make the link go directly to the repayment estimator, and ultimately make the estimator available for prospective borrowers who don’t have PINS. 1fergh, Jon From: Studley, Jamie Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 9:45 PM To: Rebecca Durlin Smith; Guillermo Mayer Subject: RE: Contacting the Leadership Conference Great. Those are EDS | thought of. How about this: let board members go ahead and make the calls. | have opportunities afterward to follow up and reinforce | will but best to let folks bond the donors to memo and the board I'm sure you and Wynn know that 'm good for a quote about memo at any time if that would be useful Sent from my Windows Phone From: Rebecca Durlin Smith Sent: 11/7/2013 6:17 PM To: Studley, Jamie; Guillermo Mayer Subject: RE: Contacting the Leadership Conference Thx, Jamie! Memo told Julia; Eva P, Angela GB, & Kimberly TR are all assigned already, but let me know if you have other EDs in mind. We've assigned the donors to board members, but if you want to/are already going to be in touch w/ any of these let me know and I'lltell scratch them from their lists. We do have a rather long call list, since this is such a special touch opportunity. Shannons Beth Parker wildy Marsha Smolens Karen Giffard Edley/Echeveste Christine &Jerry Mary Cranston Kimports Toby Lewy Bob Olson Don & Dale Marshall Leavitis Daphna stephanie & Ted Hendricksons Jon & Jane Kathy Bole Cynthia cs Dru Ramey Bob Shireman Amu MelikiansFrom: Studley, Jamie [mailto:Jamie.Studley@ed.aov] Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 1:05 PM To: Guillermo Mayer Ce: Rebecca Durlin Smith ‘Subject: RE: Contacting the Leadership Conference Just boarded plane. Pleased to call Nancy, and try for Wade. Remind me if there are natural de orgs ‘Anyone in SF for whom I'm natural and someone else isn't rught/eager? Eg I'd be thrilled to let Kapors know, they'll be esp pleased. Rebecca will know if a couple of other donors or EDs Sent from my Windows Phone From: Guillermo Mayer Sent: 11/7/2013 12:50 PM To: Studley, Jamie Wonderful, Jamie, Thank you! From: Studley, Jamie [mailto:Jamie. Studley@ed.gov Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 12:49 PM To: Guillermo Mayer Ce: Rebecca Durlin Smith Subject: RE: Contacting the Leadership Conference Absolutely will do! Sent from my Windows Phone From: Guillermo Mayer Sent: 11/7/2013 11:58 AM To: Studley, Jamie Ce: Rebecca Durtin Smith ‘Subject: Contacting the Leadership Conference Hi Jamie, We were wondering if you would like to break the insider news about PA to Wade and/or Nancy at the Leadership Conference. (The new date for the public announcement is Tuesday). For all the obvious reasons we thought you would be the best ambassador for PA, including your personal relationship with Nancy. We also thought you might enjoy the “excuse” to connect with them for the work you're leading in your new role at the Department. If you're too busy right now, we totally understand. But we wanted to make sure to ask you first. Also, feel free to let us know if there are any other DC organizations you would like to reach out to, or that woul like us to contact in advance. Best, MemoGuillermo Mayer Senior Staff Attorney 131 Steuart Street | Suite 300 | San Francisco CA 94105 415.431.7430 x 308 (0) 415.625.8456 (direct) Public Advocates inc. | Making Rights Reo! | www.publicadvocates.org ie ‘CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION This email message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the addressee named above and may contain information that is privileged and confidential If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution, or copying is strictly prohibited. if you received this email message in error, please immediately notify the sender by replying to this email message or by telephone. Thank you.O'Bergh, Jon From: Menon, Ajita T. Sent: Friday, November 01, 2013 5:11 PM To: Appel, Jeff; Gast, Sara Subject: FW: NPSAS timing; cumulative debt at graduation From: Debbie Cochrane {mailto:DCochrane@ticas.org] Sent: Friday, November 01, 2013 2:42 PM To: Menon, Ajita T. Cc: Lauren Asher; Pauline Abernathy ‘Subject: NPSAS timing; cumulative debt at graduation Hi ajita, I'm writing to follow up on a few points from your conversation with Lauren earlier today. First, do you have a sense of when the remaining NPSAS data will be available? We had previously been told mid- November but that it’s now looking like December given the shutdown. However, it would be very helpful to have a better sense of when in December so we can plan the release of our annual student debt report (which we may or may not hold for NPSAS, dependent on timing). Second, we very much hope the administration moves forward with using cumulative debt at graduation in the College Scorecard and other consumer tools or ratings. For cumulative debt figures to be meaningful, they have to be made at the same point in time, at the point of completion of equivalent credentials. in contrast, the measure in the current version of the Scorecard ~ median debt of borrowers entering repayment, regardless of whether they completed ~is, misleading because schools with low completion rates will also have low debt, simply because students didn’t stick around long enough to incur much debt. We did a blog post a few months back showing how Grand Canyon University and Duke University have comparable median debt figures {roughly around $9,000), and pointing out why it’s an apples- to-oranges comparison. On that note, once ED has the data needed to calculate cumulative debt at graduation, there will still be a number of other decisions that need to be made to define the calculation. For instance, should debt from all prior institutions and programs be included? If some is excluded, is it based on CIP codes, college attended, etc? We're happy to be a resource to the administration on this as you all move forward in thinking those types of questions through. Best, Debbie Debbie Cochrane Research Director The Institute for College Access & Success 405 14th Street, Suite 1100 Oakland, California 94612 office: (510) 318-7900 // fax: (510) 318-7918 deochrane@ticas.orgwww. ticas.org www.projectonstudentdebt.org www.college-insight.orgO'Bergh, Jon Kanter, Martha Wednesday, October 30, 2013 6:13 AM ‘pabernathy@ticas.org’ Re: Education Dept. Issues New Rules Strengthening Key Protections for Distressed Federal Student Loan Borrowers We went into high gear! The shutdown was untenable! Sent using BlackBerry From: Pauline Abernathy [mailto:pabernathy@ticas.org] Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 11:11 PM Eastern Standard Time To: Kanter, Martha ‘Subject: Re: Education Dept. Issues New Rules Strengthening Key Protections for Distressed Federal Student Loan Borrowers. Us too! We were definitely worried whether you would still be able to make the Nov 1 deadline. So glad you were able to reschedule the neg reg mtg for Nov as well. Phew. Pauline "Kanter, Martha" wrote: I'm so glad we were undeterred given the shutdown as it was touch-and-go fora while! Sent using BlackBerry From: Pauline Abernathy [mailto:pabernathy@ticas.org] Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 06:34 PM Eastern Standard Time = R._kvaal@who.eop.gov ; Talwalker, Ajta ; ‘rrodriguez@who.eop.gov' ; Lachman, Sherry «; Leibenluft, Jacob ; Merrick, Kelsey ; Coven, Martha B. (Martha_B_Coven@omb.eop.gov) ; Kanter, Martha; Appel, Jeff; Studley, Jamie; Protopsaltis, Spiros; Gomez, Gabriella; Gast, Sara; Miceli, Julie; Rohit.Chopra@cfpb.gov ; angela.peoples@cfpb.gov ; McLarnon, Gail; Mahaffie, Lynn Ce: Jessica Thompson ‘Subject: Education Dept. Issues New Rules Strengthening Key Protections for Distressed Federal Student Loan Borrowers FYI —New TICAS blog post. U.S. Department of Education Issues New Rules on Student Loans, Strengthens Key Provisions for Distressed Borrower: Posted on October 29, 2013 The U.S. Department of Education has released new final regulations that strengthen key protections for distressed borrowers with federal student loans. The regulations also make conforming revisions to reflect legislative changes related to student loans,‘The new regulations will make it easier for borrowers to get out of default and repay their loans by ensuring that “reasonable and affordable” payments to rehabilitate a loan are, in fact, reasonable and affordable. Consistent with the law, the final regulations specify that the rehabilitation payment amount must not be a required ‘minimum payment, a percentage of the borrower’s total loan balance, or an amount based on other criteria unrelated to the borrower's total financial circumstances. In response to pul ents on the draft rules submitted this summer by TICAS and others, the final rules require that borrowers seeking to rehabilitate defaulted loans be initially offered a payment amount based on what they would pay in Income-Based Repayment (IBR), which caps monthly payments at 15 percent of a borrower's discretionary ineome. The draft rules would have allowed payments based on the IBR formula only afier borrowers were offered and then rejected a different amount calculated by servicers and based on a long, and complex form, In a change of course, the Department ultimately required payments based on the [BR formula to be offered first, in response “to the numerous comments we received expressing concerns about the amount of personal financial information a borrower requesting loan rehabilitation would [otherwise] have to provide.” In addition, the final regulations permit borrowers who have been delinquent on their loans for at least 270 days to be placed in forbearance based on an oral rather than a written request. Borrowers in forbearance don’t have to make payments, but their interest keeps accruing and then capitalizes when the forbearance ends, leaving them owing even mot To try to prevent institutions from pressuring borrowers to request oral forbearances during the period when institutions are held accountable for student loan defaults, the rules limit any forbearance granted based on an oral request to 120 days and prohibit consecutive 120-day forbearances. In another improvement over the draft proposal, borrowers who are placed in forbearance based on an oral request will receive written information, as ‘well as an oral explanation, of their repayment options and how they can exit forbearance, as TICAS had recommended. The Department is allowing loan holders, colleges, and guaranty agencies to implement this rule ‘on November I, even though they are not required to comply until next July. ‘The Department publicly acknowledges the evidence “that some institutions are aggressively pursuing their former students to compel them to request forbearance on their loans, primarily during the cohort period when the institution is accountable for student loan defaults.” As detailed in our public comments, it’s well documented that some for-profit colleges have engaged in such abuses at borrowers’ expense while receiving billions of dollars in federal student aid, TICAS has identified steps the Education Department should immediately take to prevent such abuses. Soon to be published in the Federal Register, the new rules also improve students’ access to Joan discharges when schools shut down before they can finish their studies. Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The Institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 www.ticas.org and www.projectonstudentdebt.org‘Bergh, Jon From: Pauline Abernathy Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 4:02 PM To: Appel, Jeff; Gast, Sara; Protopsaltis, Spiros ce: Jessica Thompson: Joseph Mais; Connie Myers Subject: Salie Mae being investigated by FDIC, DOJ and now also the CFPB Since the media reported that SLM did not promptly notify ED of the DOJ action, I thought I would pass this along, FYL-The 100 Sallie Mae filed with the SEC yesterday indicates it received a civil investigative demand (subpoena) from the CFPB last month regarding its payment allocation practices and procedures: “Atthe time of this filing, Sallie Mae Bank (the “Bank”) remains subject to a cease and desist order originally issued in August 2008 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions (*UDFI"). In July 2013, the FDIC notified the Bank that it plans to replace the existing cease and desist order with a new formal enforcement action that ‘will more specifically address certain cited violations of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, including with respect to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Aet (“SCRA”), and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (*ECOA") and its implementing regulation, Regulation B, which will likely include civil money penalties and restitution. The Bank has been notified by the UDF that it does not intend to join the FDIC in issuing the new enforcement action, “With respect to the alleged civil violations of Section $ of the Federal Trade Commission Act relating to the SCRA, we are also in discussions with the Department of Justice (“DOT”), as the agency having primary authority for enforcement of SCRA matters, regarding settlement, remediation and a comprehensive restitution plan. In September 2013, we also received a Civil Investigative Demand from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) as part of its separate investigation regarding allegations relating to our existing payment allocation practices and procedures, the same as those previously raised by the FDIC. “We have made and continue to make changes to the Bank's oversight of significant activities performed outside the Bank by Company affiiates and to our business practices in order to comply with all applicable laws and regulations and the terms of any cease and desist orders, including in connection with our pursuit of a strategic plan to separate our existing organization into two publicly traded companies. We are cooperating fully with the FDIC, DOJ and CFPB in response to their investigations and requests for information and are in active discussions with each with respect to any potential actions to be taken against us. We could be required to, or otherwise dotermine to, make further changes to the business practices and products of the Bank and our other affiliates to respond to regulatory concerns. At the time of the filing, itis not possible to estimate a range of potential exposure, if any, to amounts that may be payable or costs that must be incurred to comply with the terms of any order.” From http/www see.gow/Archives/edgat/data/1032033/0001 19312513413619/d589070d10q htm Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The Institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 www.ticas.org and www.projectonstudentdebt.orgFrom: Kanter, Martha Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2013 11:47 PM To: Appel, Jeff; Studley, Jamie; Gomez, Gabriella Subject: FW: Chronicle Article FYi-Martha From: Martha (OX) Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 6:58 AM To: Kanter, Martha Subject: Chronicle Article [http://m.chronicle.com/themes/che/img/brand-large.pngl NEWSchttp://m.chronicle.com/section/News/6/?eio=58977> Sections * * chttp://m.chronicle.com/section/News/6/2ei0=58977> * * chttp://m.chronicle.com/section/Opinion-Ideas/40/?ei0=58977> * + chttp://m.chronicle.com/section/Blogs/164> * GOVERNMENT Former Higher-Education Official Seeks Stronger Oversight of For-Profit Colleges By Kelly Field OCTOBER 25, 2013 Washington ‘A former top higher-education official at the U.S. Department of Education is urging the agency to step up its oversight of for-profit colleges and become "more proactive at rooting out fraud and protecting student interests." In a memorandum sent to student and consumer groups in advance of a meeting with leaders of the department's Office of Federal Student Aid last month, Robert M. Shireman, a former deputy under secretary of education, argued that the department is too focused on checking "administrative boxes" and should delve more deeply into colleges’ financial statements. "The department needs to stop pussyfooting around and instead embrace its enforcement responsibilities," he wrote. The impetus for the memo, and the meeting that followed, was a July report by the department's Office of Inspector General that found that the colleges vary in how they report instructional and marketing expenses to the department, making it "nearly impossible" for policy makers and regulators to monitor how the institutions are spending federal student-aid dollars. The report recommended that the department develop common reporting requirements and seek Congressional approval to issue uniform account-classification rules.Ina written response to the report, James W, Runcie, chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid, said it would take at least two years to craft such rules. He said the department did not have the authority to require institutions to report expenses in a standardized way, and, moreover, no authority to use expense breakdowns for oversight. That response troubled Mr. Shireman, who wrote in the memo that financial reporting should be a “significant part" of the analysis the department uses to focus its enforcement efforts. Along with members of Congress, he has expressed concern that some for-profit colleges are spending more federal money recruiting students than educating them. In fate September, Mr. Shireman and officials of two advocacy groups, Young Invincibles and the Institute for College Access and Success, or Ticas, met with Mr. Runcie and Robin Minor, the office's chief compliance officer. Mr. Shireman, who has started a new organization called California Competes, led Ticas before President Obama appointed him to direct his higher-education agenda. He described the gathering last month as "a friendly and constructive introductory meeting" and said department officials "seemed open to further discussion. Default-Rate Manipulation Besides recommending that the department make better use of colleges’ financial reports, Mr. Shireman and the two advocacy groups are urging officials to mine loan-repayment data for any evidence that institutions are "gaming" their cohort default rates. Ticas has repeatedly asked the department to stop the "abuse" of deferments and forbearances to push defaults beyond the government's measurement window, arguing that other repayment options are often better for struggling borrowers. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has acknowledged, in a letter sent this year to eight senators, that "some institutions are aggressively pursuing their former students to compel them to request forbearance," but so far the department has not taken action to prevent colleges from doing so. ‘The groups also want the department to follow through on promises, made in its 2011 strategic plan, to differentiate among institutions based on their performance, and develop ways to better identify potential student-aid fraud, ‘Aspokesman for department said the agency already employs "risk based” oversight, focusing its program reviews and audits on institutions that raise certain red flags. One thing it looks for is evidence of default-rate manipulation, he said In an effort to reduce student-aid fraud, the department now screens for applicants who might be using another person's identity, and requires them to meet with a financial-aid administrator in person, he said. The department has also begun analyzing applicants’ e-mail and IP addresses to identify individuals who are applying under multiple names. Meanwhile, the department is looking for additional ways to take aim at student-aid fraud through a forthcoming round of rule-making sessions. That rule making, tentatively scheduled for the spring, probably won't touch on financial reporting, the chief concern of the inspector general's report, and it's unclear if, or when, the department will issue expense-classification rules. Finally, Mr. Shireman and the two groups are asking the department to post colleges' compliance documents online, to allow other agencies, consumer groups, and the public to do "spot checks.” Currently, many of those documents are available only through a Freedom of Information Act request, though the department's spokesman said al final program-review determinations will be posted by the end of the year. The department is also considering posting audit results, he said. iPhone email from Martha KanterO'Bergh, Jon Studley, Jamie Monday, September 30, 2013 7:30 PM Pauline Abernathy Joseph Mais RE: TICAS News Release: New Data Confirm Troubling Student Loan Default Problems ‘Thanks, Pauline, for the positive statement, From: Pauline Abernathy [mailto:pabernathy@ticas.org] Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 7:05 PM. To: Pauline Abernathy Ce: Joseph Mais, Subject: TICAS News Release: New Data Confirm Troubling Student Loan Default Problems FYI ~ Our statement on the cohort default rate data released today by the Education Department is below and attached. It praises the Administration’s plan to expand and target outreach to borrowers about income-driven repayment plans, and it calls on the Department to crack down on CDR manipulation through administrative actions and stronger regulations, as TICAS and more than a dozen other organizations have recommended. The release is also posted ‘on our CDR resources page at hitp://projectonstudentdebt.org/CDR.resources.vp.htm college access success CONTACTS: BillSwindell Gretchen Wright Shannon Gallegos, 510/318-7902 202/371- 510/318-7915 nee : Share of Defaults Compared to Enrollment FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 09/30/13 = E a pate one New Data Confirm Troubling ow (a Ween Student Loan Default Problems we fe itera For-Profit Colleges Still Have Highest Rate Me : (Oakland, CA) More than 600,000 federal | m student loan borrowers who entered | = repayment in 2010 defaulted on their loans by | 2012, new federal data show. The largest share | | of these students ~ 46 percent ~attended for- Share of Evellment hace of Defaults profit colleges, which enrolled just 13 percent of students nationally. For-profit colleges also had a much higher average default rate than other types of schools: 21.8 percent, compared to 13.0 percent at public and 8.2 percent at nonprofit colleges. Across all colleges, 14.7 percent of borrowers defaulted within three years of entering repayment. Colleges’ “cohort default rates” (CDRs) measure the share of their federal student loan borrowers who default within a certain period after entering repayment. It takes at least nine months of nonpayment to default on a federal student 1loan. Colleges with significant borrowing rates and high CDRs can lose eligibility to provide federal grants and loans to their students. These sanctions have long been based on how many borrowers default within two years of entering repayment, but beginning next year, sanctions will be based on how many borrowers default within three years of entering repayment. “Default rates can help gauge the risk of spending time and money at a particular school, but they don’t tell the whole story,” said Debbie Cochrane, research director at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS). “Even at schools where lots of students borrow, CDRs don’t tell you how many students are behind on payments, overloaded with debt, or defaulting after more than three years. And some colleges are manipulating their default rates to look safer than they really are.” Questionable drops at for-profit colleges Compared to other types of schools, for-profit colleges have long had by far the highest student borrowing rates and the largest share of defaulted borrowers. These patterns persist in the new data, although colleges in the for-profit industry saw a decrease in their three-year CDRs, from 22.7 to 21.8 percent, compared to increased rates at public and nonprofit colleges. However, the data may not indicate any real improvement at for-profit colleges given the documented industry practices used to artificially keep default rates down during the period when the schools are held accountable for them, For example, some for-profit colleges are combining data from multiple campuses to mask serious default problems at specific locations. And some are systematically putting delinquent borrowers in forbearance rather than helping them enter a suitable repayment plan. The Depart ment’s own investigation found many borrowers who “expressed the view that they were pressured or ‘forced’ to apply for forbearance and were not made aware of other options, such as deferment or the income-based repayment plan.” ‘While forbearance can help borrowers with short-term financial problems avoid default by postponing payments, interest keeps accruing and later capitalizes, making eventual repayment even more difficult. Borrowers in forbearance are not reflected in colleges’ CDRs. “Some colleges are simply masking default problems until the federal government stops watching,” said TICAS Vice President Pauline Abernathy. “These kinds of deceptive tactics protect colleges while putting students and taxpayers at even greater risk after the school is off the hook.” ABetter Option: Income-Driven Plans For most borrowers, there are better options than forbearance. Borrowers who enroll in Income-Based Repayment (BR) have their monthly loan payments capped at a modest share of their income, and any remaining loan balance is discharged after 25 years in repayment. A similar plan for recent graduates and current students, called Pay As You Earn (PAYE), offers lower payments and forgiveness after 20 years of payments. These plans help struggling borrowers stay on track and avoid default, with payments as low as $0 when income is very low. President Obama recently proposed expanding PAYE eligibility, targeting its benefits, and improving outreach and communication so more who could benefit from income-driven plans can find out about them and enroll. “"The more than 600,000 borrowers who defaulted on their loans in the last few years deserved to know all their options before it was too late,” said TICAS President Lauren Asher. “The President's proposal to expand and target outreach is, sorely needed to keep more borrowers from falling through the cracks.” ‘The consequences of default for students are severe and long lasting, no matter when they default. The debt can follow borrowers for the rest of their lives, ruining their credit, making it difficult to buy a car or rent an apartment, limiting their job prospects, and making it impossible to get federal grants or loans to return to school. Defaulted borrowers may also face garnished wages, seized income tax refunds, and diminished Social Security checks. 2Greater Accountability Needed While CDRs remain a crucial measure of college accountability, they are not an accurate gauge of student defaults when they are manipulated. The Department can improve the integrity of CDRs by cracking down on manipulation through administrative actions and stronger regulations, as TICAS and more than a dozen other organizations have Fecommended. The rates are also not a good measure of whether schools are leaving students with manageable debt burdens, which is why the Administration's efforts to define gainful employment ~ and ensure programs designed to prepare students for careers actually do so without unreasonable debt are so critical. The new data underscore the Urgent need for the Department to move forward on both of these fronts, in addition to other efforts to improve college affordability. we NOTE: For more information, please see our COR Resources Page for the latest CDRs, CDRS from previous years, and our interactive spreadsheets of (CDRs by institution. To learn more about IBR and how it can make loan payments mare manageable, go to 8Rinfo.or. ‘An independent, nonprofit organization, The Insitute for College Access & Success (TICAS] works fo make higher edueation mare available and ‘offordable for people ofall backgrounds, Our Project on Student Debt works to increase public understanding of rising student debt andthe Implications for our families, economy, and socety. For more information see ticos.ora or follow us an Twitter.Studley, Jamie Monday, September 30, 2013 7:29 PM Appel, Jeff; Baker, Jeff Kanter, Martha FW: TICAS News Release: New Data Confirm Troubling Student Loan Default Problems CDR 2013 NR KH.docx Share as you like From: Pauline Abernathy [mallto:pabernathy@ticas.org] Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 7:05 PM To: Pauline Abernathy Ce: Joseph Mais Subject: TICAS News Release: New Data Confirm Troubling Student Loan Default Problems FYI — Our statement on the cohort default rate data released today by the Education Department is below and attached. It praises the Administration's plan to expand and target outreach to borrowers about income-driven repayment plans, and it calls on the Department to crack down on CDR manipulation through administrative actions and stronger regulations, as TICAS and more than a dozen other organizations have recommended. The release is also posted on our CDR resources page at http://projectonstudentdebl,org/CDR resources.vp.html. college access success CONTACTS: _ Bill Swindell Gretchen Wright Shannon Gallegos 510/318-7902 202/371- 1999 510/318-7915 : FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 09/30/13 08 New Data Confirm Troubling = = Student Loan Default Problems 2 For-Profit Colleges Still Have Highest Rate (Oakland, CA) ~ More than 600,000 federal i | student loan borrowers who entered i repayment in 2010 defaulted on their loans by 2012, new federal data show. The largest share Es = of these students ~ 46 percent ~attended for- Share of Eneliment Share of Defaults profit colleges, which enrolled just 13 percent of students nationally. For-profit colleges also hhad a much higher average default rate than other types of schools: 21.8 percent, compared to 13.0 percent at public and 8.2 percent at nonprofit colleges. Across all colleges, 14.7 percent of borrowers defaulted within three years of entering repayment.Colleges’ “cohort default rates” (CDRs) measure the share of their federal student loan borrowers who default within a certain period after entering repayment. It takes at least nine months of nonpayment to default on a federal student loan. Colleges with significant borrowing rates and high CORs can lose eligibility to provide federal grants and loans to their students. These sanctions have long been based on how many borrowers default within two years of entering repayment, but beginning next year, sanctions will be based on how many borrowers default within three years of entering repayment. “Default rates can help gauge the risk of spending time and money at a particular school, but they don’t tell the whole story,” said Debbie Cochrane, research director at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS). “Even at schools Where lots of students borrow, CDRs don't tell you how many students are behind on payments, overloaded with debt, or defaulting after more than three years. And some colleges are manipulating their default rates to look safer than they really are.” Questionable drops at for-profit colleges Compared to other types of schools, for-profit colleges have long had by far the highest student borrowing rates and the largest share of defaulted borrowers. These patterns persist in the new data, although colleges in the for-profit industry saw a decrease in their three-year CDRs, from 22.7 to 21.8 percent, compared to increased rates at public and nonprofit colleges. However, the data may not indicate any real improvement at for-profit colleges given the documented industry practices used to artificially keep default rates down during the period when the schools are held accountable for them. For example, some for-profit colleges are combining data from multiple campuses to mask serious default problems at specific locations. And some are systematically putting delinquent borrowers in forbearance rather than helping them enter a suitable repayment plan. The Department's own investigation found many borrowers who “expressed the view that they were pressured or ‘forced’ to apply for forbearance and were not made aware of other options, such as deferment or the income-based repayment plan.” ‘While forbearance can help borrowers with short-term financial problems avoid default by postponing payments, interest keeps accruing and later capitalizes, making eventual repayment even more difficult. Borrowers in forbearance are not reflected in colleges’ CDRs. “Some colleges are simply masking default problems until the federal government stops watching,” said TICAS Vice President Pauline Abernathy. “These kinds of deceptive tactics protect colleges while putting students and taxpayers at even greater risk after the school is off the hook.” A Better Option: Income-Driven Plans For most borrowers, there are better options than forbearance. Borrowers who enroll in Income-Based Repayment (IBR) have their monthly loan payments capped at a modest share of their income, and any remaining loan balance is discharged after 25 years in repayment. A similar plan for recent graduates and current students, called Pay As You Earn (PAYE), offers lower payments and forgiveness after 20 years of payments. These plans help struggling borrowers stay ‘on track and avoid default, with payments as low as $0 when income is very low. President Obama recently proposed expanding PAYE eligibility, targeting its benefits, and improving outreach and communication so more who could benefit from income-driven plans can find out about them and enroll. “The more than 600,000 borrowers who defaulted on their loans in the last few years deserved to know all their options before it was too late,” said TICAS President Lauren Asher. “The President's proposal to expand and target outreach is sorely needed to keep more borrowers from falling through the cracks.” ‘The consequences of default for students are severe and long lasting, no matter when they default. The debt can follow borrowers for the rest of their lives, ruining their credit, making it difficult to buy a car or rent an apartment, limiting 2their job prospects, and making it impossible to get federal grants or loans to return to school. Defaulted borrowers may also face garnished wages, seized income tax refunds, and diminished Social Security checks. Greater Accountability Needed While CDRs remain a crucial measure of college accountability, they are not an accurate gauge of student defaults when they are manipulated. The Department can improve the integrity of CDRs by cracking down on manipulation through administrative actions and stronger regulations, as TICAS and more than a dozen other organizations have recommended. The rates are also not a good measure of whether schools are leaving students with manageable debt burdens, which is why the Administration's efforts to define gainful employment — and ensure programs designed to prepare students for careers actually do so without unreasonable debt ~ are so critical. The new data underscore the urgent need for the Department to move forward on both of these fronts, in addition to other efforts to improve college affordability. ane NOTE: For more information, please see our CDR Resources Page for the latest CDRs, CDRS from previous years, and our Interactive spreadsheets of {CDRs by institution. To learn more about IBR and how it can make loan payments more manageable, goto I8Rinfo.or. ‘An independent, nonprofit organization, The institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) works to make higher education more avilable and ‘offordable for people ofall backgrounds. Our Project on Student Debt works to increase public understanding of sing student debt and the Imalications for our families, ecanamy, and socety. For more information see ticos.ora or follow us on Twster.college access success CONTACTS: Bill Swindell Gretchen Wright Shannon Gallegos 510/318-7902 202/371-1999 §10/318-7915 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 09/30/13 New Data Confirm Troubling Student Loan Default Problems For-Profit Colleges Still Have Highest Rate (Oakland, CA) More than 600,000 federal student loan borrowers who entered repayment in 2010 defaulted on their loans by 2012, new federal data show. The largest share of these students ~ 46 percent ~attended for- profit colleges, which enrolled just 13 percent of students nationally. For-profit colleges also had a much higher average default rate than other types of schools: 21.8 percent, compared to 13.0 percent at public and 8.2 percent at nonprofit colleges. Across all colleges, 14.7 percent of borrowers defaulted within three years of entering repayment. Colleges’ “cohort default rates” (CDRs) Share of Defoults Compared to Enallment measure the share of their federal 7 student loan borrowers who default oo — within a certain period after entering ™ i rate Naar repayment. It takes at least nine months |» ° PS oe of nonpayment to default on a federal student loan. Colleges with significant os a borrowing rates and high CDRs can lose | I eligibility to provide federal grants and a | loans to their students. These sanctions have long been based on how many borrowers default within two years of entering epaynent, but being nest = year, sanctions will be based on how many borrowers default within three years of entering repayment. ‘hare ef Envallment share of Defaults “Default rates can help gauge the risk of spending time and money at a particular school, but they don't tell the whole story,” said Debbie Cochrane, research director at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS).. “Even at schools where lots of students borrow, CDRs don’t tell you how many students are behind on payments, overloaded with debt, or defaulting after more than three years. And some colleges are ‘manipulating their default rates to look safer than they really are.” Questionable drops at for-profit colleges Compared to other types of schools, for-profit colleges have long had by far the highest student borrowing. rates and the largest share of defaulted borrowers. These patterns persist in the new data, although colleges in the for-profit industry saw a decrease in their three-year CDRs, from 22.7 to 21.8 percent, compared to increased rates at public and nonprofit colleges. However, the data may not indicate any real improvement at for-profit colleges given the documented industry practices used to artificially keep default rates down during the period when the schools are held accountable for them. For example, some for-profit colleges are combining data from multiple campuses to mask serious default problems at specific locations. And some are systematically putting delinquent borrowers in forbearance rather than helping them enter a suitable repayment plan. The Department's own investigationfound many borrowers who “expressed the view that they were pressured or “forced! to apply for forbearance and were not made aware of other options, such as deferment or the income-based repayment plan.” While forbearance can help borrowers with short-term financial problems avoid default by postponing payments, interest keeps accruing and later capitalizes, making eventual repayment even more difficult. Borrowers in forbearance are not reflected in colleges’ CDRs. “Some colleges are simply masking default problems until the federal government stops watching,” said TICAS Vice President Pauline Abernathy, “These kinds of deceptive tactics protect colleges while putting students and taxpayers at even greater risk after the school is off the hook.” A Better Option: Income-Driven Plans For most borrowers, there are better options than forbearance. Borrowers who enroll in Income-Based Repayment (IBR) have their monthly loan payments capped at a modest share of their income, and any remaining loan balance is discharged after 25 years in repayment. A similar plan for recent graduates and current students, called Pay As You Earn (PAYE), offers lower payments and forgiveness after 20 years of payments. These plans help struggling borrowers stay on track and avoid default, with payments as low as $O when income is very low. President Obama recently proposed expanding PAYE eligibility, targeting its benefits, and improving outreach and communication so more who could benefit from income-driven plans can find out about them and enroll. “The more than 600,000 borrowers who defaulted on their loans in the last few years deserved to know all their options before it was too late,” said TICAS President Lauren Asher. “The President's proposal to expand and target outreach is sorely needed to keep more borrowers from falling through the cracks.” The consequences of default for students are severe and long lasting, no matter when they default. The debt can follow borrowers for the rest of their lives, ruining their credit, making it difficult to buy a car or rent an apartment, limiting their job prospects, and making it impossible to get federal grants or loans to return to school. Defaulted borrowers may also face garnished wages, seized income tax refunds, and diminished Social Security checks. Greater Accountability Needed ‘While CDRs remain a crucial measure of college accountability, they are not an accurate gauge of student defaults when they are manipulated. The Department can improve the integrity of CDRs by cracking down on manipulation through administrative actions and stronger regulations, as TICAS and more than a dozen other organizations have recommended. The rates are also not a good measure of whether schools are leaving students with manageable debt burdens, which is why the Administration’s efforts to define gainful employment —and ensure programs designed to prepare students for careers actually do so without unreasonable debt - are so critical, The new data underscore the urgent need for the Department to move forward on both of these fronts, in addition to other efforts to improve college affordability wait NOTE: For more information, please see our COR Resources Page forthe latest CDRs, CDRS from previous years, and our interactive spreadsheets of CDRs by institution, To learn more about IBR and how it can make loan payments more manageable, go to |BRinf.org An independent, nonprofit organization, The institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) works to make higher education more ‘ovalable and offordable for people of oll backgrounds. Our Project on Student Debt works to increase public understanding of rising student debt and the implications for our families, economy, ond society. For more information see ticas,org of follow us on IwiterFrom: Talwalker, Ajita Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 12:42 PM To: Soo, David Subject: FW: Loan Counseling Follow up Attachments: Overview of Comments submitted to Department_loan counseling docx Hey—Did you get the TICAS comments on loan counseling (attached)? Is there more you think we should be doing here? Did anything ever come of your conversations with Sara Goldrich-Raab? Unrelated—so glad you will be going to the CBE convening. | am keeping my fingers crossed I get approval to go. Many thanks, Alita From: Jessica Thompson [mailto:ithompson@ticas.ora] Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 12:29 PM To: Talwalker, Ajta Subject: Loan Counseling Follow up Hi, Ajital Thanks again for taking the time to meet with us last week. As we discussed, I'm attaching an overview of the comments TICAS submitted to the Department on the new online loan counseling tools. | am in the process of reorganizing/writing ‘our more detailed comments that were submitted within the beta version of the online tools so that they are more readable/accessible. I'll forward those as soon as | am done with that process. We look forward to learning more about how we can participate in any efforts to continue to improve these tools going forward! Thanks, Jessica Jessica L. Thompson Senior Policy Analyst ‘The Institute for College Access & Success 1111 16" Street NW, Suite 310 Washington DC, 20036 Phone: (202) 223-6060 x601 ithompson@ticas.org www.ticas.orgMay 22, 2013, New Department of Education Online Entrance and Exit Counseling TICAS Recommendations for Improvement ‘Too much unnecessary info. Much of the counseling is unnecessarily text-heavy, often providing information that students don’t need and burying or not providing the information they do need (see online comments for examples). ‘* For example, a section called ‘Things You Need to Know’, includes the topic of interest accrual but is overly technical, does not provide an example and focuses on daily accrual. “How Interest Accrues’: Direct Loans are "simple daily interest" loans. This means that interest accrues daily. The amount of interest that accrues per day is calculated by dividing the interest rate on your loan (as a decimal) by the number of days in a year, and then multiplying that by the outstanding principal balance of the loan. For example, on a $10,000 Direct Unsubsidized Loan with a 6.8% interest rate, the amount of interest that accrues per day while the loan has an outstanding balance of $10,000 is $1.86, which is calculated as follows: (0.068 / 365) * $10,000 = $1.86 inadvertently promotes private loans. The tool currently unintentionally promotes private loans in multiple ways. For example, it suggests private loans as a way to pay for college before even earnings or savings, when suggesting private loans is no more appropriate than suggesting credit cards. The way the tool works, available private loan funds are presented alongside other ‘student aid’ as a way to cover your expenses this year. Meanwhile, parental contributions, savings, prepaid tuition plans and other income are listed separately under ‘other funds’. 1. estimate Your Expenses This Yeor (Gvour Funds this Year 0 Enter the emount you expect to receive for this school year. Refer to your student account for Financial ald package awarded, PSA res), ‘You may alza refer to your Student Aid Report (SARI |B enter your student aid 0 Monthly Yearly % scholarships ome Enter data into the fields to Federal Student Loans View a chare of your funds, Private Loans 1 Enter your ether fund 2 ‘Additionally, the discussion of federal loans vs. private loans is better than the Financial Awareness Counseling Tool, which continues to say choose a loan with the lowest interest rate, but the new draft tools still do not say “federal loans first” and exhaust your federal options first as strongly as the Department does elsewhere (eg., htto://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/federal-vs-private). Additionally, the federal student loans box shouldMay 22, 2013, include bullets for deferments during unemployment (interest free on subsidized loans for up to three years), and the availability of forgiveness programs, including PSLF. Private Loans etn te Top 1 youre considering student loan offered by 9 privat lender such asa bark or 1 Seat union, cana your Francia sid administrate before appving sr Conaierfadral der oars fst Federal Student Loans Private Student Loans Federl student lane usualy offer the following s@vartages,_ervate student loans may have the following disadvantages, + Loner nares rte. + Varibie interest rater can exceed 16% {Feed iteest rte, insted of varinble interest ten {Payments may be require while youre ait in 2h 1 For Direc: Subadzea 1 gvernnent £972 Panay fet fer paying olf your loan eary ‘yur interest he you ae in = ae Nay requre an aiabithed ont ecard and the cost Fatetie besa the is wil depend on your ered score and other * Na casigner required in most cases ‘Gorigner may be required, 1 ho credit chee reared (except for Direct PLS {Cannot bs eonzolidated ito Direct Consaation 1+ Federal student loans can help you establish a good Loan forgiveness options are unlicly. lvbla and affordable repayment {an be coneobdatd int n Direct Consolidation Le Entrance counseling doesn’t integrate income-driven plans (1BR) Well. IBR is not integrated in the repayment plan options and debt burden calculations sections. In fact, even when the tool tells the borrower their expected payment burden is “high” based on the information entered by the borrower it does not suggest IBR as an option. In addition, the repayment plan options section of entrance counseling should integrate the calculator that allows the borrower to adjust for state and family size because assuming a family size of one greatly overestimates the borrower's monthly payments in these plans. IBR needs to be listed along with the other repayment plans so borrowers can see their options all at once, and it should be more clear that monthly payments under IBR are capped at 10% of discretionary income and that payments can be as low as zero depending on amount of debt, income, and family size. Delinquency vs. Default. The loan counseling tool does not distinguish the consequences of delinquency vs. default, which could lead some borrowers to erroneously believe there is nothing they can do once they have become delinquent to prevent the consequences of default. Parent PLUS loans. The counseling discusses the credit checks required for Parent PLUS loans but never mentions that students are eligible for more Stafford loans if their parents are denied a PLUS loan. This is critical information. Without it, the tool may discourage students and their parents from applying for PLUS loans because they know their credit is poor, when in fact they might be best off applying, being turned down, and then taking our more Stafford loans. Multiple disbursements. The counseling misses a key opportunity to encourage students to ask their school to disburse intially a smaller amount specified by the student and to hold the rest of the loan funds until the student indicates that they want more disbursed. Students may be more likely to do this than to reduce the size of their loan on the premise that they could apply for a second loan if they need it.May 22, 2013, Financial education portion of the counseling. The last section of counseling (‘Make Finances a Priority’) appears to be general financial education rather than loan counseling. We recommend this section be deleted until it can be more thoroughly vetted and tested because itis not directly about student loans. The loan counseling is already very long without adding this section. There is little context provided for this section containing general financial advice, itis potentially confusing and repetitive, and much of it not realistic or even inappropriate advice for students (e.g. pay for car in cash, save up to 6 months of expenses in an emergency fund).O'Bergh, Jon From: Pauline Abernathy Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2013 3:30 PM To: james R_kvaal@who.eop.gov; Talwalker, Ajta; Miceli, Julie; Appel, Jeff; Protopsaltis, Spitos; Gomez, Gabriella Subject: ICYMI Attachment: imagepng FYI. Below and attached, Trace Urdan@trace_Urdan.20 sep Increasingly clear that Hgainful lawsuit was a terrible idea, Defiant ED, emboldened crities, tougher rules, more uncertainty, wasted $ 8:39 AM- 10 Sep 13, David Halperin @Halp0C 10 Se0 @Trace_Urdan if you're right about #eainful lawsuit, then [ guess I don’t mind as much as a taxpayer having to pay Gibson Dunn to rep APSCU Pauline Abernathy Vice President, The Institute for College Access & Success Direct: 202.223.6060 x603 Main: 510.318.7900 www. ticas.org and www.projectonstudentdebt.orgFrom: Kanter, Martha Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2013 9:32 AM To: "becky@morganfamilyfoundation.org’ Subject: Re: What's this all about? Do you know Bob Shireman? He was my Deputy Under Secretary in 2009-10 and is now running CA Competes. He was formerly at the Irvine Foundation and started The Institute for College Access and Sucess (TICAS). He's complaining about a recent survey. Sent using BlackBerry From: Becky Morgan [mailto:becky@morganfamilyfoundation.org] Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 05:04 PM Eastern Standard Time To: Kanter, Martha; Plotkin, Hal Subject: What's this all about? From: Robert Shireman & Lande Ajose Reply-To: Robert Shireman & Lande Ajose Date: Tuesday, September 3, 2013 11:49 AM To: Rebecca Morgan Subject: Look beyond the headline In the Washington Monthly's annual college guide a hyperbolic headiine has created quite a stir at California's community colleges, even prompting a rebuke from the state chancellor who questioned the data the magazine used to label our community college system “worst” in the nation. [The article acknowledges that many community frolleges in California manage to thrive despite Jabyrinthine regulatory requirements and meager funding. Unfortunately, however, too many of our kommunity colleges don't escape the snake pit, with meetings that devolve into "hair-pulling,mudslinging turf wars that feel a litte ike Robert's Rules of Order meets Lord of the Flies.” according to the magazine. And itis the state's own bureaucratic regulations that are a primary cause of the frequent and widespread dysfunction: ‘when everyone is responsible for decision making, no one is accountable for it.” California Competes is seeking to overturn those regulations in court, so we can get California's ‘community colleges back on track. Whether or not you agree with the data, the Washington Monthly is right that Califomia’s community colleges need and deserve better management and coordination. Other updates: Preparing California's Health Workforce Lande Ajose, deputy director of California Competes, recently presented data showing that the vast majority of training in allied health fields ‘occurs not at our community colleges but instead at for-profit colleges in the state. The data point to the fneed for planning and coordination that ‘spans all of the higher education sectors, public and private. See her blog post here. Jane Fonda and Online Education Ata recent National Journal event on the “The New Knowledae omy," California Competes executive director Robert Shireman waves around a Jane Fonda fitness video to explain why MOOCs and other online courses should not be seen as a panacea for improving college access and success. Watch the video here. Visit us ontine at www.californiacompetes.org Like us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter!eae eee reserved, Perea Rese d Oakland, CA 94612 Toten leapt antO'Bergh, Jon From: Studley, Jamie Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 634 PM To: Horwich, Lloyd; Fingland, Jodie; Appel, Jeff Subject: RE: Just anticipating Ok I'llrefer them to you or loop you in if they follow up. It really is revealing his few folks have the perspective they want. There is another person who does, Bob Shire man, but | don't think they need me to know that he's out there and a smart 30k foot observer Sent from my Windows Phone From: Horwich, Lloyd Sent: 9/3/2013 3:22 PM To: Studley, Jamie; Fingland, Jodie; Gomez, Gabriella Subject: Just anticipating Jamie - I'm guessing Harkin staff might reach out to you at some point after this call. If you could just refer them to us odie, who is on this email also), we can coordinate the response (and save you the troublel). Thanks again for being so flexible about this call - | think they're finding it helpful. Sent from my Windows Phone"Bergh, Jon From: Jessica Thompson Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 12:34 PM To: Appel, Jeff Subject: SAP Policy Hi, Jeff! Hope you are doing well, | assume you are crazy busy, but | heard that you are the person working on the SAP policy that is referred to in the President's package of proposals, and | would love to know if you have any additional info to share about what you all are thinking on that topic. Thanks! Jessica Jessica L. Thompson Senior Policy Analyst ‘The Institute for College Access & Success 1111 16" Street NW, Suite 310 Washington DC, 20036 Phone: (202) 223-6060 x601 ithompson@ticas.org www.ticas.orgArsenault, Leigh Friday, July 26, 2013 10:14 AM ‘pabernathy@ticas.org’ Re: Vieginia Foxx: “Tt is not the role of the Congress to make college affordable and accessible" Thanks! From: Pauline Abernathy [mailto:pabernathyticas.6ra] Sent: Friday, July 26, 2013 10:01 AM Eastern Standard Time To: Arsenault, Leigh; Gomez, Gabriella; Protopsaltis, Spiros; Appel, Jeff Ce: Joseph Mais Subject: Virginia Foxx: “It is not the role of the Congress to make college affordable and accessible" FYI Virginia Foxx: Congress Doesn't Need To Make College Affordable The federal government should have no role in trying to make college affordable, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said, backing legislation that would prevent the Obama administration from enforcing new rules on for-profit colleges. "The attitude of our friends on the other side of the aisle, the attitude of the Department of Education, is that total control of our lives, especially education since that’s what we're dealing with, should be done at the federal level," Foxx said on. Wednesday. “It is not the role of the Congress to make college affordable and a on to say. "That I think is the nub of the issue here." sible," Foxx went Foxx made her comments during a House Education and the Workforce Committeemarkup of a GOP-backed bill that would prevent the U.S, Department of Education from enforcing new rules on for-profit colleges, including University of Phoenix and DeVry University, The Education Department rules are set to require for- profit schools to win the approval of any state they operate in, and to meet gainful employment standards designed to show they train graduates to earn a living. The bill also would stop the federal government from defining a credit hour until the renewal of the Higher Education Act in 2014. Traditional public and non-profit colleges for the most part wouldn't be affected. profit colleges have been accused by Government Accountability Office and igations of deceptive marketing and encouraging fraud. 1For-profit colleges account for half all student loan defaults, even though they enroll just 10 percent of higher education students. "We just have a Department of Education that is looking for solutions to problems that don't exist, and I think we need to reign it in," Foxx said. The committee passed the bill along party lines. The bill i i by for-profit adv d by several higher education groups, but is oppo of 38 organizations that advocate on behalf of students, consumers, veterans, faculty, staff and civil rights groups. Foxx and committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) both have r contributions from for-pro! ‘s. Foxx invoked the Holocaust in her defense of for-profit colleges in Feb Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas) strongly disagreed with Foxx during the hearing. “Put on your thinking cap and look back at World War II," Hinojosa said. "Congress provided money to send our returning veterans, our returning active soldiers to be able to go to college. Look at the prosperity that occurred right after World War II." Hinojosa suggested federal investment "has made a great difference" making higher education more affordable, citing the G.I. Bill, Pell grants and other financial aid programs.