Michael Dannenberg: All Publications, Events and Press

Colleges Need a Lemon Law

Erin Drankoski — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:24:00 -0500

The College Board reports tuition is up 9 percent this year in inflation-adjusted terms, despite declining prices throughout the economy and stagnant median family income. Parents want to know why the rise and why college costs so much in the first place.

The answer, in a word, is demand. Until we channel the demand for higher education in a more rational direction, tuition will continue to outpace inflation, grant aid, and family income.

Sen. Kennedy's Personal Touch

Erin Drankoski — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:11:00 -0400

Soon after my former roommate was killed in Iraq, Sen. Ted Kennedy called me. It was a Sunday afternoon, and I wasn't pleased to get the call. I was on the senator's staff at the time, and he sometimes called on weekends with policy questions, usually about education funding. The calls usually required some quick fact-checking at the least, and sometimes a trip into the office.

'He Let Out A Hearty Belly Laugh' | National Journal Online

Erin Drankoski — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:17:00 -0400

Brian Friel interviews Michael Dannenberg, former senior education counsel on the Senate HELP Committee, now senior fellow at the New America Foundation. ... Original Article

Using Student Loans to Slow Tuition Growth

Erin Drankoski — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:56:00 -0400

It's back-to-school time for college students, which means big tuition bills. Most will defer large out-of-pocket costs until after college through the use of student loans. No one is happy about the explosion in student loan debt to pay rising tuition, but there is a silver lining: We can use student loans to slow tuition growth.

The Truth About Tuition

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:13:00 -0400

For decades, the politics of higher education have followed familiar lines: Democrats champion higher Pell Grants for needy families, tuition tax credits for the middle class, and cheaper student loans paid for by cutting banks out of the system. Republicans advocate more modest Pell Grant increases and, with a few exceptions, protect the student-loan banks that enjoy a lucrative, risk-free business. President Barack Obama is following the traditional playbook. He has proposed increasing Pell Grants significantly and throwing the banks

GOP Support for No Child Left Behind Conflicts With Attacks on Sotomayor | The Washington Independent

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 27 May 2009 05:08:00 -0400

“The No Child Left Behind Act is a civil rights law that triggers government action based on the status of racial groups,” said Michael Dannenberg, senior fellow at the New America Foundation and former senior education counsel to Sen. ...

Legacy Enrollments Offered in Two Top LA-Area School Districts | Los Angeles Times

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:43:00 -0400

"It would be more efficient from a fundraising standpoint to auction off education slots on EBay than to create a legacy preference," scoffed Michael Dannenberg, director of education policy at the nonpartisan New America Foundation. ...

10 New Higher Education Ideas for a New Congress

Education Policy — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:26:00 -0500

(1) Social Insurance for College Costs

The families of undergraduates can borrow a minimum of $57,500 in federal Stafford loans.[1] Standard repayment for that level of debt equals approximately $660 per month, burdening young borrowers and constraining career choices. At no new cost, Congress can limit Stafford loan payments to 5 percent of post-college income so that young people "pay as they earn." Graduates

CA EVENT: California, the Crisis and the Next Social Contract

Elizabeth Wu — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
02/09/2009 - 8:00am

Advice for Duncan: The Thinker

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:52:00 -0500

I recommend early focus on education finance matters. The administration needs to meet and improve upon campaign promises requiring substantial resources. There are pressing student loan issues and pent-up demands for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) funding. Because the stimulus and budget are being developed now, you have a window of opportunity to address all three areas.

David Paterson Can Help Ground Skyrocketing College Tuitions

Cecille Isidro — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:17:00 -0500

A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the housing bubble. We created a college tuition bubble as well. As with housing, a toxic combination of easy credit and unsophisticated and unrealistically optimistic consumers has driven college prices sky-high.

Those prices aren't coming down anytime soon - and as the credit crisis continues, that means there's a risk that students who max out on federal loans and need extra private aid won't be able to borrow enough to afford expensive colleges.

Michael Dannenberg on WNYC | 'University Blues'

Cecille Isidro — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:14:00 -0500

Michael Dannenberg, Senior Fellow in the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation and founder of the HigherEdWatch Blog ; and Catharine Bond Hill, president of Vassar College, talk about how institutions are handling the economic crisis. LINK to audio

Michael Dannenberg in Inside Higher Ed | 'Helping Out With the Short List'

Cecille Isidro — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:19:00 -0500

Michael Dannenberg, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, also focused on governors. He suggested Roy Romer, who in addition to being the former governor of Colorado was also superintendent of the Los Angeles public school district. Dannenberg called him “smart, political, well-versed, intellectually curious.” LINK

Tuition Hikes, Not Loan Access, Should Frighten Students

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:30:00 -0400

For months, the Wall Street credit crisis has made many families nervous that the widespread availability of student loans will dry up. But no matter how many banks fail, there is no danger that families will be deprived access to federal student loans. None.

More than 100 banks have stopped issuing student loans, but about 2,000 continue to originate federal student loans. The government maintains two "fail-safe" systems. To date, not a single student has been unable to get a federal Stafford Loan. Every family, regardless of income and credit history, is able to borrow at least $57,500.

The real danger during bad economic times is that tuition often skyrockets. Here's why: A bad economy depresses state tax revenue. To meet state balanced-budget requirements, states cut funding for higher education. To make up those cuts, public colleges hike tuition. Competing private colleges see the increases and feel empowered to increase their tuitions markedly as well.

Don't Stop Spending

We can stop this trend by adopting more flexible and sensible state fiscal policies: namely, a willingness to accept deficit spending for education. No one likes red ink, but it is precisely during bad economic times that aggregate education funding should not be cut. In fact, making education recession-proof nationwide without raising taxes is a way out of an economic crisis.

State budget officials know that low-cost federal student loans are widely available. That is why states cut higher education funding when tax revenue is short. They expect families will pay or borrow more for college after cuts occur.

They're right, but consider the impact. During the last recession that led to state budget cuts, in-state tuition and fees went up 39% in one year at the University of Arizona. From 2000 to 2003, they went up 44% at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The average undergraduate leaves school with more than $19,000 in federal student loan debt, twice as much as a decade ago.

The Right Way

In response, organizations such as the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, argue that we should deter states and colleges from raising tuition by cutting student loan subsidies. But that would make college less affordable for the middle class and less accessible for the poor.

There's a better answer: The 49 states that have balanced-budget laws should revise them to allow deficit spending on education during recessions. We learned from the Great Depression that the way out is with a massive infusion of government-supplied liquidity. Consumer and government demand drives supply, which in turn drives jobs.

Look at what we've done on the federal level. We passed a $170 billion stimulus plan. We've committed more than $400 billion to ad hoc Wall Street rescues. We passed a $700 billion bank bailout plan. But the states are about to move in the opposite direction and cut spending. That's bad policy right now.

Too much deficit spending is a danger, but so is not borrowing a neighbor's hose when your house is on fire. We need sensible revisions to state budget laws that set flexible caps on deficit percentages, impose objective triggers and require public debt repayment during good times to prevent runaway spending. But adhering to a balanced-budget principle in an economic crisis is what Herbert Hoover did initially. We need the opposite.

Attention governors: Show leadership, revise your budget laws and make education recession-proof.

Michael Dannenberg on the Brian Lehrer Show | '30 Issues: Higher Ed'

Communications — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:04:00 -0400

Michael Dannenberg, senior fellow in the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation, discusses the cost of college, as well as Obama and McCain's platforms on college affordability and student loans. Full Story

Michael Dannenberg in the Associated Press | ' Campaigns Differ on How to Help with College Costs'

Communications — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:16:00 -0400

Michael Dannenberg, senior fellow with the New America Foundation and a former adviser to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., says Obama's proposals take the problem of college affordability more seriously than McCain's. And he calls the tax credit a significant innovation.

"McCain's message when it comes to increased tuition is, 'You're on your own,'" said Dannenberg, who has not worked for Obama's campaign. "Obama's message to families is, 'We'll give you more financial aid to help you with college costs, but your kids are going to have to help others.'" LINK

Michael Dannenberg in the American Prospect | 'Another Student Loan Crisis?'

Communications — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:19:00 -0400

"The vast majority of our schools report a very small number of students who still need loans at this time," says Richard Doherty, who heads the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts. According to an August AICUM poll, 70 percent of their members have had less than 15 students experience difficulties in obtaining private loans. Only a "tiny percent" reported over 50 students with similar problems.

To be honest, says Doherty, the notion of a student loan "crisis" was "perhaps overplayed" by the media.

Michael Dannenberg, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, agrees. "People were running around, saying the sky is falling, that kids are going to go without federal student loans, but the DOE never said that," says Dannenberg. "Quite the opposite. Because, in truth, there never was a real crisis for students when it came to federal student loans."

"There was, however, a real crisis for some lenders who weren't able to access capital at the same low rates they'd been used to," he adds. LINK

Michael Dannenberg in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer | 'Bergeson Offers Fix for 'No Child Left Behind''

Communications — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:56:00 -0400

With the presidential election still more than two months away, experts say it's too soon to tell how the law might be reformed.

But there's likely to be a continued march toward national academic standards, and one national test, said Michael Dannenberg, an education expert with the New America Foundation, a centrist nonprofit public policy institute. LINK

A College Fund for Every Student

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 05:35:00 -0400

Barack Obama wants to give families a refundable $4,000 tax credit for college, if their children complete a required amount of community service. It's a fine, conventional Democratic idea. It could be a lot more powerful, though, if Obama coupled it with an old Republican favorite - depositing his $4,000 credit into private accounts like the so-called 529 plans that so many upper-income families use to save for college.

Debate: College Admissions

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:50:00 -0400

USA Today: Let Alma Maters Decide

Schools Should Determine Whether Children of Alumni Get an Edge

A fair number of freshmen arriving at their colleges this week are legacies, a term that sounds faintly disreputable. Aren't these the students who get into top-tier colleges because their parents went there and donate heavily?

That's what the critics of admission preferences for children of alumni say, and those critics got a boost from research released earlier this month.

A paper by a Duke University sociology professor and a graduate student concluded that legacy students entered Duke with lower grades and had poorer grades the first year (before recovering). Not only did the Duke legacy students earn lower grades initially, they were more likely to be wealthy, white, Protestant graduates of private schools.

The study is bound to fire up anti-legacy campaigns. On Capitol Hill in recent years, some senators have threatened colleges with reporting requirements on legacy students or, worse yet, sought to revoke tax exemptions for gifts made by legacy parents.

The motives of the anti-legacy advocates are understandable, and if a college decides on its own not to give extra points to legacy applicants, more power to it. But bans on legacy advantages could trigger unintended consequences:

Reduced Diversity

Once government starts tinkering with the admissions process, there's no stopping it. If preferences for legacies are barred, so might those for minorities, athletes, tuba players or modern dancers. Colleges, not legislators, should determine their optimal mix of students, one that isn't necessarily based solely on grades and SAT scores.

Revenue Drops

States are dotted with regional colleges with limited national pull. These colleges lack the deep pockets afforded by the multibillion-dollar endowments found at elite universities. Encouraging the children of alumni, including alums who are steady givers, is an economic necessity. Denying colleges those donations would inflict serious financial damage.

Limited Loyalty

Colleges like legacy students for the same reason they like "early decision" applicants who list a college as their top choice and promise to attend if accepted. Students who really want to be at a college add spirit, carry on traditions and get involved in activities that benefit all students.

To date, only a few public universities have banned legacy advantages. At elite private colleges, legacy students make up as much as 12% of the freshman classes, although most legacies get only a modest edge and intense competition for admission makes getting in far tougher than it used to be. (Satirist Andy Borowitz suggests a LegacyPlus program to allow rejected Harvard legacies to "enjoy all of the perks of students who actually got into Harvard — except for the education part.")

At lesser-known colleges, which are worried about their economic survival, legacy admissions appear to be rising, say college counselors, and might make up as much as 30% of the freshman class.

It's easy to appreciate the unease about legacy admissions. But depriving colleges of the ability to shape their freshman classes as they see fit, as long as they abide by anti-discrimination laws, amounts to denial of an important academic freedom.

***

Michael Dannenberg: Ban Legacy Preferences*

Practice Gives an Unfair Advantage to Less Qualified Children of Alumni

There is no good argument for a legacy preference in college admissions. Legacies are less qualified and perform less well academically than their non-legacy peers. The preference is inefficient for fundraising, and it undermines the role of colleges as engines of socioeconomic opportunity. Schools should do away with it voluntarily, or Congress should ban it just like discrimination against racial minorities.

At elite institutions, typically one in eight students is a legacy. In many schools, there are more legacies than African Americans, Latinos or Pell Grant recipients. Notre Dame, where one in four students gets a legacy preference, has more legacies than African-Americans and Latinos combined.

Harvard's legacy admission rate is 40%. Yet according to the Education Department Office for Civil Rights, legacies on average are "significantly less qualified" than their peers.

Elite colleges — with endowments such as Notre Dame's $6 billion and Harvard's $35 billion — claim the preference is "necessary" for fundraising. But students get a legacy preference even if their families haven't contributed a dime. From a fundraising standpoint, it would be fairer and more efficient to auction off acceptance letters on eBay than to give a legacy preference.

Colleges such as Yale claim the preference furthers a sense of tradition. That's the same argument used to exclude racial minorities, women and Jews a generation ago, not to mention justify racial segregation nationally.

Defenders such as USA TODAY hide behind the concept of "academic freedom." But academic freedom has to do with research and what goes on inside the classroom — it's not a blank check for discriminatory admissions policies. It's not as if legacies have an important perspective or special talent that contributes to the intellectual or cultural environment of a school.

The legacy preference doesn't reward achievement, doesn't promote diversity and isn't fair. It should be banned. The last thing colleges and universities should be doing is extending an extra helping hand to those already advantaged by birth.

*Reprint includes correction regarding the number of legacies at Notre Dame University