Get a group of higher education wonks in the same room talking about public funding and they’re bound to discuss how flattening and declining state investment is hurting students and colleges alike.
But while a group of experts acknowledged this fact during a forum at the National Press Club on Wednesday, the main discussion centered around not only a lack of money but a lack of vision in the implementation of state-awarded grant programs.
Experts and authors of a report, “Redesigning State Financial Aid,” released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Education Commission of the States (ECS), contend state grant programs should better meet the needs of modern students, who have access to a growing number of pathways to higher education.
