Michael Dannenberg: All Publications, Events and Press

Michael Dannenberg in APM's Marketplace | Student Loans Are Getting Whacked

Communications — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:50:00 -0400

New America in the News:

APM's Marketplace | Student Loans Are Getting Whacked

Bank of America and a unit of Citigroup have joined a growing list of lenders cutting back on student loan programs. At the same time, the House passed an emergency bill that would enable lenders to have more cash to keep making loans. John Dimsdale reports.

TESS VIGELAND: OK, here's another side-effect of the credit crunch: Student loans are getting whacked. Today Bank of America and a unit of Citigroup joined a growing list of lenders cutting back on student loan programs. Also today the House passed an emergency bill to give the Education Department more authority to buy up student loans. That way, presumably, lenders would have more cash to keep making them. John Dimsdale reports from Washington.

JOHN DIMSDALE: Today the Bank of America joined the dozens of lenders who've recently withdrawn from the federally-guaranteed student loan business. Yesterday, the nation's largest student lender, Sallie Mae, announced a $133 million loss in the first quarter of this year. That compares to more than $100 million in profits last year. But the editor of HigherEdWatch.Org, Michael Dannenberg, isn't worried yet.

MICHAEL DANNENBERG (Director of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation): There are a couple thousand student loan providers -- federal student loan providers. There are two fail-safe systems in place. There's definitely a crisis for some individual lenders, but that's different from actual students. Theoretically, something very bad could happen down the road, but we're not there yet. . .

Taming the Tuition Beast

Ron Tang — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:47:00 -0400

It's not news that the cost of a college degree has risen significantly over the last couple of decades.

Since 1990, tuition and fees have risen by nearly 225 percent at four-year public colleges and by 154 percent at private four-year colleges. The real story is that tuition growth rates often fluctuate wildly from year to year -- which makes it hard for families to plan ahead and budget enough to cover the costs.

Last year, students at Villanova faced an unexpected tuition and fee increase that was double the previous year's.

Students entering Penn State in 2002 had no way of knowing… more

Michael Dannenberg in Inside Higher Ed | 'Hedging Bets on Student Loan Availability'

Communications — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:02:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Hedging Bets on Student Loan Availability (Inside Higher Ed)

. . . “I think he’s doing the right thing in seeking to calm fears of parents or financial aid officers scared by newspaper headlines, and by demonstrating that Congress is ready to act should there be widespread problems for students themselves, as opposed to some lenders,” said Michael Dannenberg, director of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation. Dannenberg said that Kennedy’s plan should be viewed not as opening the door to students’ borrowing more but as allowing them to shift their borrowing to less-costly federal loans rather than more expensive private ones. . .

New America Foundation in Inside Higher Ed | 'A Student Loan Credit Crunch — But for Whom?'

Communications — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:34:00 -0400

New America in the News:

A Student Loan Credit Crunch — But for Whom? (Inside Higher Ed)

. . . “Students with poor credit ratings, particularly those at trade schools whose graduates have poor repayment track records, might be unable to find a willing private student loan provider,” the New America Foundation’s Education Policy Program wrote on its blog this month. “All students, however, who apply for a private student loan with a creditworthy co-signer should be able to obtain a loan and obtain it at a lower interest rate than they otherwise would receive. Private student loan borrowers who don’t have a creditworthy co-signer and who are pursuing academic programs at schools with dubious job placement and loan repayment track records should consider lower cost education options.”

The idea suggested in the New America post — that the credit crunch isn’t a major problem because it is affecting mostly students at for-profit colleges, and should actually prod students who take out costly private loans at for-profit schools to enroll instead in community colleges or other lower-cost institutions — has been a subtext of some of the discussion surrounding the credit crunch, and reveal just how differently the crisis is perceived in various quarters. . . .

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

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

Communications — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:06:00 -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. . . .

Michael Dannenberg in University Wire news | "Student Loan Field Takes Defense"

Communications — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:55:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Student Loan Field Takes Defense (University Wire)

. . . Michael Dannenberg, director of the education policy program for the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank investigating the student loan crunch, said the media had merged private student loans and federal student loans' susceptibility to the housing crisis, noting federal loan recipients won't be affected. He scolded the press for creating a sense of fear. "The bigger danger is that the fear, if not panic, could depress college access for students who think they can't get a loan," Dannenberg said. . .

Stephen Burd of New America Foundation's Higher Ed Watch.Org Blog Receives National Education Reporting Award for Investigating

Communications — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:11:00 -0500

Higher Ed Watch.Org's staff writer and a lead investigator on the 2007 student loan scandals, Stephen Burd, is the winner of a 2007 National Award for Education Reporting, the Education Writers Association announced on Monday. Burd is a Senior Research Fellow with New America Foundation's Education Policy Program and a former Senior Writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Burd's two award winning articles from April 2007 appear here on the Higher… more

Michael Dannenberg in Minneapolis Star Tribune | 'Students Pinched by Credit Markets'

Communications — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:09:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Students Pinched by Credit Markets (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

..."There is zero danger that federal Stafford loans will not be available in the foreseeable future. Zero danger," said Michael Dannenberg, director of education policy at the New America Foundation in Washington.

Only about 10 percent of all college loans come from private lenders, he said. Many of those students could turn to federally backed loans if other sources of cash dry up, in Dannenberg's view.

Michael Dannenberg in New York Times | 'As Lending Tightens, Education Could Suffer'

Communications — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:12:00 -0500

New America in the News:

As Lending Tightens, Education Could Suffer (New York Times)

...Not everyone believes that retrenchment in commercial education would be bad. “High-risk borrowers with low academic achievement who are pursuing post-secondary training should not go to expensive, low-quality proprietary schools,” said Michael Dannenberg, director for education policy at the New America Foundation in Washington. “They would be better off going to community colleges, which are lower cost and open enrollment, for the most part.”

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

Michael Dannenberg in Cox News | 'House Democrats to Vote on Cutting Student Loans'

Communications — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:17:00 -0500

New America in the News:

House Democrats to Vote on Cutting Student Loans (Cox News Service)

...Michael Dannenberg, director of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation, said the federal government has wasted "billions of dollars" each year on excess lender subsidies. "Financial aid should be helping students, not banks," he said.

Michael Dannenberg in AARP Bulletin | 'What An Outrage!'

Communications — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:34:00 -0500

New America in the News:

What An Outrage! The Money That Got Away (AARP Bulletin)

Nelnet denies it broke any laws. Still, "for a good number of years, Nelnet had a river of dirty money flowing through it," says Michael Dannenberg, director of the education policy program at the New America Foundation in Washington.

Michael Dannenberg in NY Times | 'U.S. Ignores Finding on Lender'

Communications — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:26:00 -0500

New America in the News:

U.S. Ignores Finding on Student Lender (The New York Times)

Michael Dannenberg, director of the education policy program at the New America Foundation in Washington, sharply criticized the department’s decision to seek less than the amount identified in the audit.

“The department’s going after less than half of a fraction of the larger amount of improper billing that the Pennsylvania lending agency engaged in,” Mr. Dannenberg said. “The Department of Education’s failure to aggressively police the student loan industry has hurt taxpayers and students, and this is the latest example.”

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." ...

Higher Ed Watch.Org in The Washington Post | 'College Discount'

Communications — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:34:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Elite Ivy League students can expect a break on tuition. What about everybody else? (editorial, The Washington Post)

No doubt places such as Yale, with an endowment of $22.5 billion, and Harvard, with an endowment of $35 billion, have the ability to do more to help families with the cost of education. Harvard's endowment grew by $6 billion last year alone, and its new policy will cost $22 million. That, as the New America Foundation pointed out in its higher-education blog, is about one-third of 1 percent of the growth in the endowment. The group noted that Congress just spent $6 billion to cut in half interest rates for undergraduate loans over the next five years -- nationwide.

AP Quotes Michael Dannenberg on Student Loans and Higher Ed Costs

Communications — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:04:00 -0500

New America in the News:

The Assosciated Press published a review of the surge in loan elimination in private schools for middle- to upper-class income students, and quoted Michael Dannenberg, Education Program Director with the New America Foundation.

... Michael Dannenberg, a scholar at the New America Foundation, notes that's also approximately the figure Congress spent this year to cut student loan interest rates from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent -- for the whole country. ...

Ultimately, however, other factors will play a much bigger role in college affordability for most people than Harvard's policies for its 6,600 undergraduates.

For instance, maximum Pell Grants -- the main federal aid program for low-income students -- are set to rise from $4,310 to $4,731 this year under a spending bill passed Wednesday by Congress -- though that's a $69 cut from what students had been promised.

But the biggest factor is the economy, says Dannenberg of the New America Foundation. Historically, when the economy falters, state funding for higher education is first to take a hit, and public college tuition soars.

"You could have this coming phenomenon where higher education at the elite colleges is becoming more affordable for the talented elite students who are accepted, but education for the masses to attend state and community colleges could become less affordable." ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.

Michael Dannenberg in Education Week on NCLB Funding

Communications — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:29:00 -0500

New America in the News:

For all of this year’s debate about the future of testing, accountability, and other policy issues around the No Child Left Behind Act, virtually no one has brought up the question of how best to give out billions of dollars a year under the law.

Until 2001, debate over the allocation of funding often dominated efforts to revise the main federal K-12 law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Members of Congress concentrated on how to distribute money to the point, sometimes, of overshadowing other policy discussions.

But that hasn’t been the case in the early work to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind law, the current version of the ESEA, even though the nearly 6-year-old law has dramatically shifted the distribution of money under the $12.8 billion Title I program for disadvantaged students. The changes have benefited the nation’s largest cities, as well as suburban areas with pockets of poverty.

“The increase in targeting of federal aid in NCLB is a success story that nobody knows about,” said Michael Dannenberg, the director of the education policy program for the Washington-based New America Foundation. In 2001, Mr. Dannenberg worked as an aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and who advocated a formula that helped districts with large concentrations or numbers of students eligible for Title I services. ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.

Sara Mead Featured in Education Week on 10 Ways to Tweak NCLB

Communications — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:47:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Spend Unused NCLB's Tutoring Funds on PreK, Mead Says

Yesterday at the New America Foundation, Sara Mead released a list of 10 ways NCLB could be tweaked to bolster prekindergarten programs. In a panel discussion, which I moderated, she highlighted three items:

Require districts to use their unspent money for tutoring and choice on preK in schools that are in need of improvement;
Allow schools required to restructure to transform into "early education academies" serving preK-3; and
Expand Reading First so districts can use the money for preK literacy.

The ideas aren't meant to be a comprehensive preK agenda, Mead said. They can be "a bridge to get to places that people want to go to get a greater federal investment," she said. ...

For the complete story, please follow this link. Audio from the panel discussion is available here.

No Child Left Behind and Early Education: Prospects for 2008

Communications — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:15:00 -0500

A New America Event
11/29/2007 - 12:15pm

Congressional leaders recently announced that they will not finish reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act -- the major federal law authorizing elementary and secondary education programs -- this year, but will continue working on reauthorization in 2008. This gives Congress a chance to revisit an issue that was largely ignored in this year’s debate over NCLB reauthorization: early education for pre-school and early elementary aged youngsters.

Evidence shows that the foundations of children’s future academic success or failure are largely in place by the end of third grade, and as much as half of the achievement gap between white and African American students exists before children enter first grade. Yet public debate on NCLB has focused little attention on the preschool and early elementary years. A new issue brief from the New America Foundation, 10 New Ideas for Early Education in the NCLB Reauthorization, explains why Congress must not ignore early education in NCLB reauthorization, and offers recommendations for how the law could better support children’s learning in these critical years.

How can NCLB better support state and local efforts to improve preschool quality and access, as well as early elementary learning? What are the prospects for early education reforms, and No Child Left Behind reauthorization generally, when Congress takes these issues up again in 2008?

Video of this event is available at right, while an MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below. Click here for a copy of the issue brief, 10 New Ideas for Early Education in the NCLB Reauthorization.