Higher Education, Race, and the Economy Lab

For-profit companies called OPMs are turning public education into a for-profit venture— and when private equity and VC investors get involved, the risks to students only rise. See our analysis from @SmithChristianM and Laura Hamilton: protectborrowers.org/opm-contracts-…

🚨Big personal and professional news! I'll be giving talks at UC Berkeley and Stanford this week about "The Financialized University Under Threat" and my new newsletter. Please subscribe here for more: charlieeaton.net

In a new report, we show how a Wealth-Based Pell Grant could address racial wealth gaps and reduce student debt burdens. This intervention could have a particularly profound impact on students who face the double disadvantage of low income AND low wealth. ticas.org/affordability-…

Excited to reshare the Wealth-Based Pell Grant report, authored by my colleagues at the @HERE_Lab in partnership with @TICAS_org! A crucial step towards addressing wealth inequalities in higher ed. #StudentDebt #EducationEquity #FinAid

Check out our new report proposing a supplemental Wealth-Based Pell grant that together with the existing Pell Grant would help millions more students to attend college debt free.

The amazing @ProfessorWherry at @Princeton is hiring a postdoc for our project on using innovations by Du Bois to teach data visualization methods across STEM fields. Please share / apply! puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/apply…

The @HERE_Lab is hiring a postdoc! Project on wealth & financial aid policy w/ Laura Hamilton & @CharlieEatonPhD. Firsthand, I can say HERE Lab postdocs get extremely supportive mentorship + a good balance of time on independent research & time on the lab's cutting-edge projects.

HERE Lab cofounder Charlie Eaton speaks to why we need universities led by academics grounded in the project of scientific research and an inclusive pursuit of knowledge.

Charlie Eaton, the author of “Bankers in the Ivory Tower,” said... “There’s already so much pull towards doing what donors would want the university to do... You need presidents who are academics to keep the university anchored in that project.” nytimes.com/2023/12/11/bus…

It was a nice surprise to hear @EvanMandery on @NewsHour quote my estimate that university endowments receive $20 billion in annual tax subsidies. I support his call to eliminate these subsidies for schools with legacy admissions. 1/

To the economists who screamed moral hazard about student debt cancellation but not the SVB bank bailout: new student loan borrowing fell at its fastest rate ever in the first year of the repayment pause.

NEW: Black & low-inc students are disprop. in online 4yr programs, these progs. relate to worse grad & loan repayment outcomes, & the patterns exist at both for-profits AND nonprofits. @amber_d_villa's, Laura Hamilton's, @CharlieEatonPhD's, and my paper: researchcghe.org/publications/w…

Hannah Appel of @StrikeDebt reviewed my book for @NYbooks. She argues that the recent University of California strike was a major step for severing UC's Wall Street ties and remaking UC as a reparative institution of collective empowerment. I agree. nybooks.com/online/2023/02…

Help lead our Lab's work to end student debt and more! The Higher Education, Race, and Economy @HERE_Lab at @UCMerced is hiring a Policy and Communications Director! Salary $95K to $120K based on education/experience. Please apply or share our posting! careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psc/ucm/EMPLOY…

In California, we don’t forgive student debt, we cancel it. I’m proud that our @HERE_Lab research with @daliejimenez, @NextGen_Policy, and @theSBPC contributed to this trailblazing program to cancel institutional debts owed by students to their colleges. gov.ca.gov/2022/09/30/cal…

Our next #EquityChat guest is @CharlieEatonPhD -economic sociologist & assoc. prof. at @UCMerced. He is cofounder of @HERE_Lab - which seeks to reverse racial inequity in resource distribution @Iamkeithcurry @DrPamLuster @DrTammeil @CollegeFutures highereddatahub.org

I really appreciate that UCI is holding info sessions about the recently expanded student loan forgiveness. I’m joining the #UCStudentDebtChallenge. #studentloanforgiveness is important. I still have a quite a bit left and a kid in college currently accruing student loan debt.

We will be releasing a rapid analysis of the forthcoming details on the debt cancellation executive order jointly from the University of California Student Loan Law Initiative and the @Here_Lab. Stay tuned.