The loophole in your repayment plan and how to close it
Income-driven repayment has a reset rule that servicers often forget — and that borrowers rarely request.
Priya Raman6 min read
AI & Education·Sep 11, 2025
AI literacy, and the faculty who are teaching it first
A few programs are moving past the integrity question and asking what students actually need to know.
Latest Higher Ed
Browse all topicsAI literacy, and the faculty who are teaching it first
The first programs teaching AI literacy ask a different question: what students should know, not just what they should avoid.
Tomas Reyes8 min read
How AI Is Changing What Students Expect From College
Generative AI has rewritten the question students bring to college. What programs still teach exclusively human judgment, and which will have to rewrite their value proposition.
Tomas Reyes9 min read
How to read a financial-aid letter without crying
Aid letters are written to look like promises. Here's how to read them down to what you'll actually pay.
Priya Raman13 min read
Test-optional admissions: what the data actually shows so far
Five years into mass test-optional admissions, the data shows a different story than the one on both sides of the debate.
David Okeke11 min read
Paying for college without maxing out your parents' help
The aid formula assumes family help. When that is zero, the math still works in a few concrete ways.
Priya Raman10 min read
Explore Higher Education
See all topicsTen topic hubs, each built for a real question a student, parent, or educator brings to higher education.
AD · Admissions
Application process, essays, testing, and what actually moves a decision.
FA · Financial Aid
FAFSA, grants, scholarships, loans, and how to read the aid letter.
DP · Degrees & Programs
Associate to doctorate, and how to compare programs honestly.
SS · Student Success
Study skills, first-year transitions, support services, and finishing the degree.
CR · Careers
Outcomes, internships, entry-level work, and what employers actually value.
GS · Graduate School
Master's, PhD, professional degrees, funding, and choosing the right program.
OL · Online & Adult Learning
Online degrees, adult learners, part-time pathways, and flexible programs.
PE · Higher Ed Policy
Federal and state policy, accreditation, and the economics of the college system.
AI · AI & Education
AI in classrooms, academic integrity, policy, and where the technology is actually changing work.
Featured Guides
Evergreen resources, updated on a regular cadence. Written to stay useful for years, not days.
Guide
Is grad school worth it in a tight job market?
A framework economists use to decide whether a master's pays off right now, with hard break-evens.
Ellen Whitaker12 min read
Guide
What an online degree actually costs when you add it all up
The advertised price of an online degree hides technology costs, time, and opportunity. Here's how to total up the real number.
Tomas Reyes9 min read
Guide
How to choose a major that won't disappear
A framework for choosing a major against real labor projections, not hype.
Tomas Reyes11 min read
Data & Trends
Explore all dataThe numbers behind the headlines. Every figure is drawn from a named primary source and labeled with its access date.
Sample data — figures illustrative until verified by editorial.
Data & Trends
College enrollment in the United States
How degree-granting enrollment has changed since 2010 — with the post-pandemic period spelled out.
18,615 thousands · latest
U.S. Department of Education, NCES — IPEDS / College Scorecard
Data & Trends
Tuition and net price
What a degree actually costs after aid — and how to compare colleges on that basis.
≈ $11,600 · latest
NCES — Average Price and Discounted Price
Data & Trends
Student loan balances in the U.S.
What the national balance looks like, who holds it, and how payments behave.
1,660 · latest
New York Fed — Survey of Consumer Prices & Household Debt
Data & Trends
Graduation rates
What completion actually looks like, by type of institution and degree level.
≈ 63% · latest
NCES — IPEDS Completions and Graduation Statistics
Student Perspective
Practical advice, real student experiences, and the day-to-day realities of being in school, in between programs, and in the first years after graduation.
Student Perspective
How AI Is Changing What Students Expect From College
Generative AI has rewritten the question students bring to college. What programs still teach exclusively human judgment, and which will have to rewrite their value proposition.
Student Perspective
Is grad school worth it in a tight job market?
A framework economists use to decide whether a master's pays off right now, with hard break-evens.
Student Perspective
What an online degree actually costs when you add it all up
The advertised price of an online degree hides technology costs, time, and opportunity. Here's how to total up the real number.
Latest Analysis
Longer-form work on the questions that will define higher education over the next decade.
AI literacy, and the faculty who are teaching it first
A few programs are moving past the integrity question and asking what students actually need to know.
How AI Is Changing What Students Expect From College
Generative AI has rewritten the question students bring to campus: not just 'what will I learn,' but 'will this still teach me something machines cannot.'
Is grad school worth it in a tight job market?
Two-year master's programs are facing a 2020-style enrollment cliff. Here is the decision framework economists actually use.
How to choose a major that won't disappear
Some fields contract. Here is how to pick a direction that stays, measured against real labor data.
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