Weekend Reads: A New Way to Pay for College, Oil Prices in Free Fall, and More

New this week

A new way to borrow money for college. Beth Akers says Income Share Agreements (ISAs) shouldn’t be discounted as an alternative to the traditional student loan model.

Iran’s eleventh-hour negotiations approach. Suzanne Maloney breaks down Tehran’s four-point hedging strategy as the November 24 deadline for a nuclear agreement draws near.

Oil prices are in free fall. Charles Ebinger says we’re “in for a wild ride.”

Marriage is the best environment for kids. In a new Brookings Cafeteria Podcast Isabel Sawhill talks with host Fred Dews about gaps in education, family structure and parenting styles that create unequal starts for American children.

What our experts are reading

If you want to understand what recent financial gyrations actually mean, there’s no better starting point than this New York Times blog post. (@JustinWolfers)

New analysis from Pew Research: Latino voters and their impact on this election via Fusion. (@Arturo_Sarukhan)

Jared Bernstein gives a great overview of the intersection of inequality and mobility. (@RichardVReeves)

Great read by John Kamensky about the government’s under-use of performance data. (@JohnJHudak)