Paying for College

Education news, analysis, and opinion about how students and families finance college tuition, including through student loans, Pell Grants and other financial aid
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Federal Opinion Under Trump, the Chairman of the House Ed. Committee Lays Out His Agenda
Rep. Tim Walberg shares the committee's priorities for K-12 education, including "streamlining" the education department.
Rick Hess, March 11, 2025
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9 min read
Diverse group of college students talking while walking down the stairs at their university
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College & Workforce Readiness See the States That Offer Undocumented Students Financial Support for Higher Ed.
Close to half of states offer some kind of tuition support to college-bound undocumented students.
Ileana Najarro & Gina Tomko, February 26, 2025
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2 min read
Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Education, arrives for her Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, on Feb. 13, 2025.
Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Education, arrives for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 13, 2025.
Graeme Sloan for Education Week
Federal 5 Key Takeaways From Linda McMahon's Confirmation Hearing
President Trump's education secretary nominee pledged to maintain school funding even as she works to end the U.S. Department of Education.
Brooke Schultz, February 13, 2025
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6 min read
Illustration of college graduate getting ready to climb steps with the word “debt” written on it.
iStock
Teaching Profession Opinion Student Loan Debt Is an Overlooked Crisis in Teacher Education
If we want to make the teaching profession a more attractive career pathway, we need to do something about debt.
Jeff Strohl, Catherine Morris & Artem Gulish, December 5, 2024
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4 min read
President Joe Biden speaks at the Classroom to Career Summit in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024.
President Joe Biden speaks at the Classroom to Career Summit in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Nov. 13, 2024.
Ben Curtis/AP
College & Workforce Readiness As Biden Prepares to Leave Office, He Touts His 'Classroom to Career' Work
At a White House event, the president and first lady highlighted their workforce-development efforts.
Olina Banerji, November 13, 2024
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3 min read
A picture of a gavel on a target.
Bill Oxford/Getty
Law & Courts Top Affirmative Action Foe Has New Target: Scholarships for Aspiring Minority Teachers
The legal activist behind the U.S. Supreme Court college admissions decision has now sued over an Illinois minority scholarship program.
Mark Walsh, October 23, 2024
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3 min read
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona testifies during a House Committee on Education and Workforce hearing on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Washington.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona testifies during a House Committee on Education and Workforce hearing on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Washington. New reports from the Government Accountability Office detail what led up to the botched rollout of a new FAFSA form and the resulting fallout.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
College & Workforce Readiness As Students Sought FAFSA Help, 4 Million Calls Went Unanswered
A new probe from Congress' investigative arm details what led to the failed rollout of a new federal financial aid form.
Libby Stanford, September 24, 2024
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6 min read
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during an interview, Sept. 20, 2023, in Washington. The U.S. Education Department says it discovered a calculation error in hundreds of thousands of student financial aid applications sent to colleges this month and will need to reprocess them, a blunder that follows a series of others and threatens further delays to this year's college applications. Senate Republicans are requesting a hearing with Cardona to discuss their “serious concerns” about the FAFSA rollout.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks on Sept. 20, 2023, in Washington. The U.S. Department of Education has announced a phased rollout of the FAFSA form this year.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Federal FAFSA Was a Debacle Last Year. Here’s What the Ed. Dept. Is Changing
The Education Department plans a phased rollout of the FAFSA this year after the revamped form's introduction was beset by major glitches.
Libby Stanford, August 7, 2024
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3 min read
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona testifies during a House Committee on Education and Workforce hearing on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Washington.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona testifies during a House Committee on Education and Workforce hearing on Capitol Hill on May 7 in Washington.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
Federal Miguel Cardona in the Hot Seat: 4 Takeaways From a Contentious House Hearing
FAFSA, rising antisemitism, and Title IX dominated questioning at a U.S. House hearing with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
Libby Stanford, May 7, 2024
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6 min read
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona speaks during Education Week’s 2024 Leadership Symposium at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va., on May 2, 2024.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona speaks during Education Week’s 2024 Leadership Symposium at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va., on May 2, 2024.
Sam Mallon/Education Week
Federal Arming Teachers Could Cause 'Accidents and More Tragedy,' Miguel Cardona Says
"This is not in my opinion a smart option,” the education secretary said at an EdWeek event.
Mark Lieberman, May 2, 2024
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4 min read
Student hanging on a tearing graduate cap tassel
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
College & Workforce Readiness What the Research Says New Data Paint Bleak Picture of Students' Post High School Outcomes
Students are taking much longer to complete credentials after high school than programs plan.
Sarah D. Sparks, April 9, 2024
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2 min read
Jesus Noyola, a sophomore attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, poses for a portrait in the Folsom Library on Feb. 13, 2024, in Troy, N.Y. A later-than-expected rollout of a revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FASFA, that schools use to compute financial aid, is resulting in students and their parents putting off college decisions. Noyola said he hasn’t been able to submit his FAFSA because of an error in the parent portion of the application. “It’s disappointing and so stressful since all these issues are taking forever to be resolved,” said Noyola, who receives grants and work-study to fund his education.
Jesus Noyola, a sophomore at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, stands in the university's library on Feb. 13, 2024, in Troy, N.Y. He's one of thousands of existing and incoming college students affected by a problem-plagued rollout of the revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FASFA, that schools use to compute financial aid. A series of delays and errors is resulting in students and their parents putting off college decisions.
Hans Pennink/AP
College & Workforce Readiness A FAFSA Calculation Error Could Delay College Aid Applications—Again
It's the latest blunder to upend the "Better FAFSA," as it was branded by the Education Department.
Elizabeth Heubeck, March 22, 2024
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2 min read
Image of a laptop, and a red "x" for a malfunction.
IIIerlok_Xolms/iStock/Getty
College & Workforce Readiness The New FAFSA Is a Major Headache. Some High Schools Are Trying to Help
High schools are scrambling to help students navigate what was supposed to be a simpler process.
Elizabeth Heubeck, March 11, 2024
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5 min read
Social Security benefits identification card with 100 dollar bills
JJ Gouin/iStock/Getty
College & Workforce Readiness Students With Undocumented Parents Have Hit a FAFSA Road Block. Here Are 3 Options
A FAFSA expert provides advice for a particularly vulnerable group of families.
Elizabeth Heubeck, March 5, 2024
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4 min read
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