Michael Dannenberg

Most stories on the percentage of adults who think college is not worth it fail to note most also overestimate the cost, underestimate how much financial aid they’re entitled to receive, & don’t have a firm grasp of the earnings premium associated w/ degree attainment. www.strada.org/reports/cost...

Making FAFSA mandatory: an evaluation of Louisiana's financial aid submission policy on college enrollment and pell grant awards Aiming to reduce inequalities between low- and high-income students enrolling in college, Louisiana enacted legislation requiring high school students to file a FAFSA application, or opt-out, prior...

Making FAFSA mandatory: an evaluation of Louisiana's financial aid submission policy on college enrollment and pell grant awards www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

"I find positive, significant impacts on the enrollment rate for Black students at large, public four-year universities"

In addition to the cost side of the affordability issue, there’s the ability to pay side and individuals have a lot more control over that @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social

Latest rpt backing “the more you learn, the more you earn” is out of MA. $20K-$30K value-add for degree holders www.mass.edu/earnings

Hungary’s right-wing leader, Victor Orban, slashed university funding for independent research, cut support for content areas he doesn't like, and installed allies in key college roles.

JD Vance called him a "model."

Higher ed: You're in a war. It won't end with a handshake. @democracyforward.org

Why top colleges should cut back on early decision admissions - The Boston Globe Colleges have increasingly relied upon early decision to secure ever-larger portions of their entering classes. But the early decision edge goes largely to students who already have a big leg up on th...

BGlobe op-ed proposes colleges agree to cap and reduce early decision admissions. To really make that proposal work, the federal gov’t would have to suspend antitrust law enforcement for that purpose. It can and should. @jfallows.bsky.social @booker.senate.gov

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/15/o...

My vision. Every college degree program comes embedded with a work-based learning experience (a paid internship for those with need), & every student graduates with a skill-based certification upon degree completion. Work matters. Skills matter.
@ginaraimondo.bsky.social
@petebuttigieg.bsky.social

@jimmessina.bsky.social @gavinnewsom.bsky.social @jbpritzker.bsky.social @chrismurphyct.bsky.social @rahmemanuel.bsky.social @lissmith.bsky.social @liamkerr.bsky.social

A 2028 hopeful should go big on work study, strengthen it, & better tie it to academic programs. The Trump admin has proposed an 82% cut to work study even though students who complete a paid internship are half as likely to be underemployed post-graduation. Help them & show Ds value work. #Clinton

When a college breaks and tries to take advantage of the Trump higher ed compact offer (one will, cough, UTexas), I hope someone sues claiming they will be competitively, illegally, harmed by Trump admin action. This type of infringement on academic freedom is barred by statute. 20 USC 1232

The law still matters, right?!

See 20 USC 1232. Federal Prohibition on Control of Curriculum and education institution programming.

Seems to me any college has good grounds to sue and seek an injunction stopping implementation of the Trump administration’s “compact” with higher ed. It runs directly counter to 20 USC 1232’s prohibition on direct or indirect federal control of academic programming. The law still matters, right?!

Doesn't have to be the @barackobama.bsky.social + @arneduncan.bsky.social one (though I think it has many elements worth reanimating), but we've gotta offer something that's about using public institutions to change policies to make schools fairer and better (while ALSO funding them better).

SCHOOLED | Michael J. Petrilli | Substack SCHOOLED is Michael J. Petrilli’s twice-weekly newsletter restarting the ed reform conversation. Expect sharp analysis, curated commentary, and lively debates—including from YOU. This is one newslette...

Education “reform advocates should always want…bipartisan support…[I]t makes for a stronger & more durable coalition,” says @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social True, but sometimes that’s not enough (see NCLB). You need the upper middle class as well. schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com?utm_campaign...

M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment

It's clearer by the day that Columbia making a deal with Trump in July was a catastrophe for higher education as a whole. It gave terrible people a bottomless appetite for extortion. The other eight universities must follow MIT's lead.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

STAND WITH YOUR SCHOOL: Trump attacks 9 universities. Sign the alumni petition now. Are you an alum from one of the 9 schools the federal government just attacked? Sign this alumni petition now to support your school, defend democracy, and build a grassroots movement for campus freed...

There’s a new campaign asking alumni to urge their alma maters to reject the Trump administration’s latest shakedown of higher ed.

They should start a PAC as well. Use participatory democracy to defeat those who would destroy it. @bluehaveninit.bsky.social

alumni.controlshift.app/petitions/tr...

Democrats should go in the opposite direction of Mamdani on gifted programs. There should be more, not fewer of them. And we should reward students who fast track through school.

@rahmemanuel.bsky.social
@joshshapiro.bsky.social
@all4ed.org @crpe.bsky.social

all4ed.org/wp-content/u...

My K-12 ed reform recipe list:

1) Time- Think summer learning
2) Teachers- Better trained, better paid
3) Rigor- High standards & acctly for all
4) Relevance- Curricula that resonates & matches the research; &
5) Student Motivation- Policies that facilitate success

@mattyglesias.bsky.social

Fair enough. Deeper question: Why did Ds give in to the groups and Rs to privatization then and now? My answer? Money, ideology, and (primary) votes. Need to move two of those three. Overcoming one isn’t enough. @welcomepac.bsky.social

America stopped caring how poor kids do in school The bad new bipartisan consensus behind falling test scores

. @mattyglesias.bsky.social says declining school quality can be largely attributed to Congressional abandonment of test-driven ed reform. I look @ Obama admin NCLB waiver decisions that preceded Cong action. Regardless, the political dynamic @ work was/is the same www.slowboring.com/p/america-st...

Reading Skills of 12th Graders Hit a New Low

Reading Skills Hit a New Low. The real question is why doesn't anyone care? Why doesn't the Democratic Party care? I submit it's because mainly it's the lowest achieving students who are declining. Political power rests with parents of middle & high achieving students www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/u...

So, which is it? Clamp down on international students and base policy on (anecdotal) stories of “forever students” OR recognize the contributions international students bring to American higher education and support our higher education trade _surplus_? apnews.com/article/chin...

The weight given to non-academic criteria ('character', etc) and the discretionary admissions process really are odd characteristics of the US university system. Biased, privilege-protecting results plus lots of resentment is precisely what one would predict this leads to.

In education and beyond, Democrats need to offer real solutions to that which rightly fuels populist rage. As long as we’re just against Trump without offering compelling, lasting solutions to the ways in which the deck is stacked against working people, we will lose. @dynarski.bsky.social

An Open Letter From Arne Duncan The former secretary of education weighs in on Trump’s attacks.

My take on the threat Trump poses to our system of higher education- America’s crown jewel.
He is destroying the goose that has laid our golden egg, as he attempts to destroy democracy.
We must resist- together!

You can open a free account to read my open letter.

www.chronicle.com/article/an-o...

Still waiting on the Trump administration to declare the legacy preference an unlawful violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. It carries just as much if not more of a disparate impact as the DEI policies the Trump administration continues to attack and declare unlawful.

Universities are grappling with how to pay new endowment taxes. Some analysts say the answer is to admit more students. - The Boston Globe More than a dozen schools across the nation are expected to fall under the top tax rate in the new Republican tax and spending law, including Harvard and MIT.

More and more folks are suggesting elite colleges embrace ⁦‪an‬⁩ “abundance agenda” to self-mitigate the effects of the endowment tax. 🤔 ⁦‪
‪@ezraklein.bsky.social ‪@dkthomp.bsky.social ‪@mattyglesias.bsky.social
‪@glastris.bsky.social

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/23/m...

The tragic fall of #UVa’s Jim Ryan is yet another indication that the Trump administration’s war on higher ed will not abate. Defensive lawsuits are good, but not enough. Time for higher ed to hit back and use participatory democracy to defeat those who would destroy it. #Harvard

It’s politically negligent that the Association of American University Professors doesn’t have a PAC like other interest groups. Scores of #Harvard professors already have pledged 10%(!) of their salaries to help Harvard fight the Trump admin. Imagine that nationally. #UVA @dynarski.bsky.social

University of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration

Higher ed needs to start acting like a forceful special interest. Engage in polling, do msg development, mobilize students, make hard $ campaign contributions, finance soft $ campaigns…Call it the Campaign for Academic Freedom & hire a campaign professional. Do it now www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/u...

Five things to remember about war: