Event Summary
President Obama has committed the nation to the goal of having the world's highest rate of college graduates by 2020. The funding and delivery of student financial aid will be critical to the chances of reaching that goal. To that end, the president has announced plans for an overhaul of the federal college loan system.
Event Information
When
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Where
Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC
Map
On May 26, the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings hosted an event to explore ways of improving the effectiveness of student financial aid. Brown Center Director and Senior Fellow Grover (Russ) Whitehurst moderated the panel discussion. Participants included Deputy Undersecretary of Education Robert Shireman; Michael McPherson of the Spencer Foundation; Sandy Baum from the College Board; Philip Day from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, and Celia Sims, legislative assistant to Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC).
Transcript
RUSS WHITEHURST: President Obama has committed his administration to the challenging goal to ensure that America will "have the highest proportion of students graduating from college in the world by 2020." In 2005, our tertiary graduation rates, 34 percent, were well below average of developed countries, and almost half the rate of the leading countries. We can't expect other countries to stand still between now and 2020, so conservatively we have to at least double our college graduation rates in the next 10 years to have a chance of gaining the lead. The President has identified the restructuring and dramatic expansion of student financial aid as key to achieving his goal.
Our discussions today will focus on recommendations for the reform of student financial aid. We will also try to address where financial aid sits in the broader context of the factors that limit college access and attainment from low-income and minority backgrounds.
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Participants
Panelists
Robert Shireman
Deputy Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Education
Michael McPherson
President, The Spencer Foundation
Sandy Baum
Senior Policy Analyst, College Board
Professor of Economics, Skidmore College
Philip Day
CEO and President, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
Celia Sims
Legislative Assistant, Office of U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC)