Jason Delisle: All Publications, Events and Press

Jason Delisle in San Antonio Express | 'College aid law offers partial relief for students'

Communications — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:58:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...In addition to financial aid, the law will also dole out matching grants aimed at boosting the number of first-generation and low-income college students, and will give $510 million to Hispanic, black and other minority-serving institutions.

Overall, the measures will relieve some pressure on students and families — but not too much, said Jason Delisle, an education researcher at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers would have liked to do more, but they had a limited pot of money available after cutting the lender subsidies.

“Basically, they did that because they couldn't afford to do it any other way,” Delisle said... LINK

The Budget Resolution and Education Funding: A Primer

Communications — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:37:00 -0400

Today the New America Foundation's Federal Education Budget Project released "A Primer on the Budget Resolution's Impact on Education Funding," by the project's Research Director Jason Delisle. The primer serves as an insightful guide to this confusing and often partisan process by which federal education funding is determined. Last week the Congressional budget committees adopted the first drafts of the fiscal year 2009 budget resolution, marking the start of the annual Congressional budget process.The proposals head to the full House and Senate for consideration this… more

A Primer on the Budget Resolution’s Impact on Education Funding

Education Policy — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:31:00 -0400

The budget resolution put forward by Congress each year -- which sets out the congressional budget plan for the next five years -- and the ensuing budget process itself are enormously significant for education funding. However, the arcane procedures under which Congress produces and acts upon the budget resolution are often confusing to the media and education advocates alike. This confusion is made worse by political rhetoric and partisan spin. This brief by the New America Foundation’s Federal Education Budget Project is meant to shed light on how the budget resolution affects education funding.

This primer clarifies certain aspects of the… more

Jason Delisle in CongressDaily PM | 'Senate Budget Would Boost Advance Approps By $4 Billion'

Communications — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:06:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Senate Budget Would Boost Advance Approps By $4 Billion (CongressDaily PM, subscription only)

. . . "There's no reason to do it other than to increase spending," said Jason Delisle, an education analyst at the New America Foundation. Backers "want the money by any means necessary, but the trade-off is the debate gets confused and the budget lacks transparency."

Advance funding for education grew out of a timing quirk whereby the academic year usually spans parts of two fiscal years. Beginning in FY96, Congress began using advance appropriations to increase education funding for a given school year while technically staying within that fiscal year's discretionary spending cap, according to a New America report.

Since then the gimmick has become wildly popular -- what started out as $1.3 billion in advance education funding in FY96 grew to $17 billion in FY08, the report notes.

The New America report said the use of advance appropriations makes it difficult to compare actual year-over-year education funding totals. It can also cause problems in future years should budgetary circumstances change. . . .

New America Foundation in Chronicle of Higher Education | 'President Bush: A Friend of Higher Education After All?'

Communications — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:00:00 -0500

New America in the News:
President Bush: A Friend of Higher Education After All? (The Chronicle of Higher Education, subcription only)

... Mr. Bush has, however, given researchers, and their colleagues throughout higher education, something else of value: money. The president has been "highly successful" in winning increases for higher education from Congress, according to an analysis published last month by the New America Foundation, a Washington-based research and advocacy group that is often critical of the Bush administration.

"Congress adopted nearly all of the significant higher-education funding and policy proposals included in the president's budget requests from 2002 through 2008," including increases in Pell Grants and loan-forgiveness programs, the foundation noted. more

The Bush Education Budget Legacy

Education Policy — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:20:00 -0500

Next week, President George W. Bush will submit his eighth and final budget request to the Congress. How has he fared with respect to education budget proposals thus far? Answer: although President Bush made the No Child Left Behind Act, which deals with elementary and secondary education, the hallmark of his education policy, from a federal education budget standpoint, the Bush administration’s most lasting legacy thus far is in higher education. The New America Foundation’s Federal Education Budget Project evaluated all the Bush administration's past budget requests and finds that the Bush administration has had relatively little success in enacting its… more

Oversold?

Education Policy — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:14:00 -0500

In Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius's Democratic response to President Bush’s final State of the Union Speech Monday night, she touted a new law to “reduce the costs of college loans” as one of the major accomplishments of the new Democratic Majority in Congress. She was referring to enactment of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, which among other things reduces interest rates on federally subsidized student loans. It was a big pat on the back for Congressional Democrats, who made… more

Michael Dannenberg and Jason Delisle in CQ | "Student Aid: Will many low-income students be left out?"

Communications — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:55:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Student Aid: Will many low-income students be left out? (available for purchase from CQ Researcher online)

...The idea that having more lenders in the program improves customer service through competition doesn't make sense, says Jason Delisle, research director for education policy at the New America Foundation. The Loans are an identical commodity offered under government rules, so lenders have little room to customize loans or services, he says. In addition, lenders generally hold the loans on their own book for only a few months before selling them. ...

... The large number of lenders competing for student-loan business is evidence that private lenders have long received "excess subsidies," according to Michael Dannenberg, director of education policy at the New America Foundation. "There are reasons Sallie Mae's [Student Loan Marketing Association's] stock has increased by 2,000 percent in teh last decade, and those reasons are a government garantee against risk and very large government subsidies." ...

Pell Grants Cut

Education Policy — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:46:00 -0500

In October and again in November, we warned that Congress might try to cut the Pell Grant program for low-income college students. We argued that after passing a new law in September that rightly whacked excess student loan bank subsidies to increase Pell Grant funding, Congress might later follow up in another bill and cut or shift base Pell Grant funding in order to finance other priorities. Unfortunately, we were right. Worse, those other priorities include increased higher education earmark (also known as "pork barrel") spending.

Last night,… more

Advance Appropriations

Education Policy — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:57:00 -0500

The Congressional Democratic majority has made increasing education funding a priority in its fiscal year 2008 spending plan. Their Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-H) appropriations conference agreement proposes increases in education for fiscal year 2008 that, if enacted, would result in one of the largest year-over-year increases (in nominal terms) in Department of Education funding since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2002.

Congress would like for much of the proposed increase in education funding, however, not to occur in fiscal year 2008, the time period covered by the current… more

New America Releases Two Reports on No Child Left Behind and Federal Education Funding

Jerry Irvine — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:00:00 -0500

The New America Foundation released two reports today on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) reauthorization and the pending federal education budget. The reports identify steps Congress may choose to pursue in expanding early childhood education and eliminate a budget “gimmick” utilized by Democrats and Republicans in Congress to fund next year’s education program before a full federal budget is created. The reports were released today at an event held at the New America Foundation attended by leading experts on NCLB and federal education policy.

10 New Ideas for Early Education in the NCLB ReauthorizationSara Mead is a… more

A Good Year for Pell Grants, A Great Year for Earmarks

Education Policy — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:52:00 -0500

When Congress returns from its recess next week, unfinished fiscal year 2008 education funding legislation will be high on the agenda. Fiscal year 2008 began on October 1 and funding subject to appropriations for the fiscal year has been provided on a continuing resolution that ends December 14th. Eleven of the twelve bills that are to fund the operation of the federal government have not yet been signed into law, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill (Labor-H).

After passing a $150.8 billion conference… more

Student Loan Auctions - The Missing Story

Education Policy — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:40:00 -0400

Last week, National Journal ran an article on the recently enacted student loan auction program filled with criticisms. According to lenders, bankers, Bush political officials at the Education Department, college aid administrators' association (NASFAA), and "most" Congressional Republicans, the taxpayers' representatives should not use the market to set student loan company subsidy rates, because it is "unworkable." Their alternative is to pull a subsidy number out of thin air. Really.

The special interests referenced in the National Journal article who criticize the newly enacted student loan auction subsidy setting program… more

Jason Delisle Quoted by National Journal on Student Loan Legislation

Communications — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 10:15:00 -0400

New America in the News:

One month after President Bush reluctantly signed legislation requiring the government to auction the rights to make student loans, the Education Department is calling the new program unworkable and inflexible. Even some proponents of auctions agree, while the loan industry says that the plan will hurt borrowers by narrowing their lender choices.

The auction program is included in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act that Bush signed on September 27 despite a veto threat. The bidding requirement attracted little attention when Congress debated the legislation, as headlines focused on scandals involving cozy relationships between loan providers and college officials. Yet it could fundamentally change the way the government supports education loans. ...

The law requires the Education Department to run a separate auction in each state every two years in which lenders would bid for the right to make guaranteed loans to parents. Known as PLUS loans, they represent about 17 percent of the Federal Family Education Loan Program, according to the department.

In each auction, the two lenders willing to accept the lowest subsidy rate would win the exclusive right to make PLUS loans in the state where the bidding took place. The winning lenders would be legally obligated to make loans to all eligible borrowers. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., came up with the plan, which is expected to save the government $2 billion in subsidies to lenders. Auctions are scheduled to begin on July 1, 2009. ...

The New America Foundation did not back the Senate pilot model, but Education Policy Program Research Director Jason Delisle said that the think tank considered it better than the current approach. "This is a foot in the door. We get to see the concept in practice," he said.

The groups that support an auction favored the House's proposal, which was written by Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., in consultation with the New America Foundation. It called for the Education and Treasury departments to study various auction models in a two-year pilot program that would involve as much as 20 percent of all guaranteed student loans. Petri's plan would have authorized the Education Department to extend the successful model to the entire federal program. ...

For the complete story, please follow this link (subscription required).

Education and the Federal Budget Showdown

Communications — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 04:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
10/04/2007 - 11:00am

The White House and Congress are engaged in a major budget debate that threatens a government shutdown and could markedly influence federal education funding. Congressional Democrats have proposed significant increases in education spending for Fiscal Year 2008, while the President has proposed to cut Education Department funding and threatened to veto relevant spending bills.

The panelists at this New America event discussed the current budget debate and its implications for federal education funding; lessons from past budget negotiations; and possible scenarios for resolution of the current conflict. Peter Cohn of Congress Daily explored the major factors underlying this year’s appropriations fight. Barbara Chow, a former Clinton White House liaison and budget negotiator, shared her insights from past negotiations. And New America’s Heather Rieman presented new research on federal education funding.

New America also released an issue brief: The 2007 Budget Showdown: The Facts Behind Education Funding. Video of this event is available at right, while an MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below.

The Business of Sallie Mae – Political Risk for Investors and Taxpayers

Education Policy — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:42:00 -0400

The group buying Sallie Mae says it wants to renegotiate the deal in light of legislation passed by Congress and signed into law last week that changes the government subsidy level provided to student loan banks. The buyers argue that the new law changes the student loan program to such a degree that Sallie Mae is not worth what they agreed to pay earlier this year.

Politics

It's not surprising that the Sallie Mae buyers are claiming recent political action has changed the company’s value. Sallie Mae’s business model is subject… more

Jason Delisle and Sara Mead Join the Education Policy Program at New America Foundation

Jerry Irvine — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:30:00 -0400

The New America Foundation is pleased to announce the addition of Jason Delisle, a former Senior Analyst on the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee, and Sara Mead, an expert in early childhood and elementary and secondary education to its Education Policy Program. As the Education Policy Program’s Research Director, Mr. Delisle will play a lead role in implementing the organization’s Federal Education Budget Project. Ms. Mead will serve as a Senior Research Fellow, a position in which she will help shape New America’s work on early education in the context of the No Child Left Behind… more

Tough Choices Ahead on College Aid Plan

Education Policy — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:18:00 -0400

The massive college aid bill that Congress passed earlier this month is headed to the President for signature. As the newest member of the Higher Ed Watch team and a budget hawk, I thought I would point out some of the loose ends that are going to have to be tied up in the near future if the bill is to live up to its dual promise of increasing student financial aid without imposing any new costs on taxpayers.

The first promise: The bill increases student financial aid by more than $20… more