An Economist Goes to College

Guest host Jason Delisle speaks with Amy Laitinen, director for higher education with the Education Policy program at New America. In this episode, they discuss college earnings metrics: though knowing how much a student who pursues a particular major at a particular university seems like obvious information, in fact, that data has only recently become available. Amy discusses the history of this data, its potential, and its limitations.

Beth speaks with Kristin Blagg, a senior research associate in the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute who focuses on educational funding and finance policy. In this episode, they discuss how data can be used to measure college outcomes and influence decisions about where to go to college, and how geography impacts student choice.

Beth speaks with Mike Itzkowitz, the founder and president of the HEA group and a senior fellow at Third Way, a national think tank that champions modern center-left ideas. In this episode, they discuss the college scorecard, which is a tool for publishing college outcomes data, and the massive leaps forward we’ve seen in transparency in higher education in the last decade.

Beth speaks with Ben and Jenna Storey, visiting fellows in Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and professors of politics and international affairs at Furman University. They are the authors of "Why We Are Restless," which discusses how the pursuit of happiness can wind up making us less happy. In this episode, they discuss whether college is really fulfilling its purpose and helping students find direction.

Beth speaks with Barmak Nassirian, Vice President for Higher Education Policy at Veterans Education Success, about the rise of higher education finance as a political phenomenon. They discuss the problems that lead to its prominence, and what we can expect to happen next.

Beth is joined by Justin Draeger, the president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), to discuss the fraught Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program: what it is, why it exists, how it's working, and what should be done about it.

Beth speaks with Kevin James, founder and CEO of Better Future Forward, about income-share agreements, their role in the future of paying for college, and what might stand in the way of this promising innovation.

Beth speaks with Melissa Korn, a higher education journalist for The Wall Street Journal, about the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, its impact on the admissions process so far, and what the scandal has revealed about our higher education system.

See Melissa and co-author Jennifer Levitz's recent book about the Varsity Blues scandal: "Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of the College Admissions Scandal" (Penguin Random House, 2020).

Beth speaks with Jon Meer, a professor of economics at Texas A&M University, about why college tuition keeps rising and what we can do to change its upward trajectory.

Beth speaks with Josh Mitchell, who covers economics and student debt for the Wall Street Journal, about his newest book, “The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe” (Simon and Schuster, 2021). They discuss the history of the student loan system, what the student debt crisis is precisely, and what it means for the future of higher education policy.

Link to "The Debt Trap": bit.ly/DebtTrapBook