Dr. Will Doyle says the current financial aid system is no help to students.
Dr. Will Doyle’s work builds on a 2012 report by the Committee for Economic Development (CED), titled “Boosting Postsecondary Education Performance,” which offers ways to increase postsecondary completion rates.
According to that report, when it comes to the production of postsecondary degrees and certificates, America’s system of higher education lags behind the rest of the world.
If implemented, Doyle’s proposals will result in increased access to higher education for currently underrepresented students; greater access to higher education for students at all income levels; increased efficiency at broad-access institutions; and an environment that fosters more innovation and solutions specific to state contexts.
Savings from the elimination of tax credits could be used to provide “venture capital” for innovative practices at the campus level. Doyle said FAFSA should be eliminated and students deemed eligible through the tax system, which would translate into increased access for students who understand their financial aid options and more young people pursuing advanced degrees as the threat of loan default becomes less of a burden and more students, in turn, repay their federal loans.
Students seeking to earn college degrees are faced with staggering increases of tuition and other costs each year; lower amounts of Pell Grants are available to the needy; and low-income students have a higher burden as they struggle to pay for a university degree. “We cannot assume that ever‐greater amounts of public support will solve our access problems. We do need to think about how to use our dollars more effectively. We want to thank Will Doyle for helping CED explore this pressing issue,” said Carl Camden, CED co‐chair and President and Chief Executive Officer of Kelly Services Inc.
Doyle, assistant professor of Higher Education at the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations in Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, argues that federal officials, educators and others must make a critical assessment of the various elements of the nation’s state and federal financial aid environment and change the way that the system currently works.
