Examples of key federal policy areas include a variety of tools the federal government has to influence the ecosystem, federal financial aid to learners, tax policies for higher education, data collection, workforce development, and career navigation services.
- Tools: The federal government—Congress and the administrative agencies—have many tools to influence the field: They can use the bully pulpit, work across the agencies that have strong employer connections, and create funding incentives (e.g., new grant programs) to affect secondary and postsecondary programs.
- Financial aid: Pell grants are a federal subsidy to assist lower-income students. Pell is limited to students with need who have not earned a bachelor's degree, enroll in certain post-baccalaureate programs through participating institutions, or enroll in short-term, job-focused training programs. More than 5,000 institutions participate.
- Tax policies: Tax credits, deductions, and savings plans can help taxpayers with their expenses for higher education. A tax credit reduces the amount of income tax an individual may have to pay. A deduction reduces the amount of income that is subject to tax, thus generally reducing the amount of tax to be paid. Certain savings plans allow the accumulated earnings to grow tax-free until money is taken out (known as a distribution), or allow the distribution to be tax-free, or both.
- Data Collection: IPEDS in the U.S. Department of Education (this data collection system began in 1992) annually conducts 12 surveys, in fall, winter, and spring. All institutions authorized by Title IV for any federal financial assistance program are required to complete these surveys. Data collected include institutional characteristics and prices, enrollment, financial aid, degrees and certificates conferred, and student persistence and success. IPEDS is currently considering whether and when to collect non-degree data; this will be an important policy for incremental credentialing.
- Workforce-Target Incentives: Through Career and Technical Education (CTE) and related WIOA and Perkins programs, the federal government provides funding and guidance that is particularly important for community and technical colleges. High-quality CTE programs represent an effective way to provide young adults with an educational experience that prepares them for both college and career success. Not all CTE programs offer accessible pathways to a bounty of educational options; however, some are terminal, meaning they are structured to provide comprehensive training for a specific occupation rather than further academic study. Apprenticeships, important to incremental credentialing, are guided by law (29 U.S.C. §50) on the promotion of labor standards of apprenticeship, plus regulations (29 CFR 29) on labor standards for registering apprenticeship programs.
- Workforce Development Boards (WDBs) are part of the Public Workforce System, a network of federal, state, and local offices that support economic expansion and aid in developing the nation's workforce. WDBs direct federal, state, and local funding to workforce development programs. They oversee the American Job Centers, where job seekers can get employment information, find out about career development training opportunities, and connect to various programs in their area. Services are available at sites throughout the nation, serving a number of programs:
- Career Navigation Services: In re-employment assistance programs and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), federal policy can expand access to effective coaching to help workers navigate a new economic landscape. Federal policymakers could increase investments in Wagner-Peyser re-employment assistance programs and WIOA programs to enable states and local workforce boards to hire and train more job coaches at American Job Centers. They could also provide additional funding to states to create a high-quality coaching support system across all organizations that serve affected workers. Many groups are calling for these specific actions: hire more coaches, give coaches training and tools, align performance incentives to encourage coaching providers to focus on clients’ long-term career success, and ensure that all populations are served.
States set policy for their educational systems and provide policies that affect workers and employers. Examples of state policy include governor-led statewide financial assistance programs for short-term postsecondary courses and programs; legislation to support credentialing and workforce development strategies; higher education system approaches to adopt microcredential policies; and remedial education policies.
- Louisiana: The governor used federal stimulus dollars to start Reboot Your Careers to provide financial assistance for students in short-term postsecondary courses.
- Virginia: Since 2016, FastForward has operated a statewide short-term credential program to help meet the demand for such programs among both students and employers.
- Florida: In 2021, the legislature passed HB 1505 to require public postsecondary institutions to award students a nationally recognized digital badge upon completion of core general education courses that demonstrate career readiness. Some features of that program include:
- It applies to students entering a postsecondary institution in fall 2022 or later.
- The State Board of Education and the Board of Governors for the State University System jointly appoint faculty committees to identify the competencies in the general education core that demonstrate career readiness. Demonstration of these competencies will qualify the student for a verifiable, interoperable, nationally recognized digital credential.
- Badges must be awarded/recognized by every public postsecondary institution in Florida.
- Colorado passed multiple bills in 2022 to support credentialing strategies and disadvantaged students. They include:
- Improving Students’ Postsecondary Options (HB22-1366) provides increased funding to make postsecondary options more accessible and affordable.
- Regional Collaborative Grants (HB22-1350) provide incentive grants to fund talent development for workforce development.
- Opportunities for Credential Attainment (SB22-192) tasks the Colorado Department of Higher Education to work with state institutions of higher education to develop and implement a process to support institutions in creating stackable credential pathways. Legislation includes provisions for public universities to award associate degrees to students who stop out short of a bachelor’s. It also funds a task force and study of the state’s public higher education system.
- Remedial Education: Research shows that a small number of students who took remedial courses earned a certificate or associate degree within six years, and a small number transferred to a four-year university. Research has also shown that Black and Latino students enroll in remedial classes at disproportionately high rates. Some states have passed laws guiding remedial education.
- In California, a 2022 bill banned most remedial math and English classes at community colleges that cannot transfer with credit to four-year universities. Assembly Bill 1705 addressed concerns that some students were still being detrimentally funneled into remedial classes. Lawmakers contended that many of the colleges offering remedial courses are violating the spirit of a 2017 law, Assembly Bill 705, which said colleges cannot place students in remedial classes unless they are highly unlikely to succeed in transfer-level coursework. The new law builds on the initial one by creating stricter rules detailing the limited scenarios when colleges are allowed to enroll students in remedial classes.
State systems of higher education and coordinating boards play a major role in policy.
They typically develop and implement postsecondary policy that aligns with federal and state statutes. They administer academic, financial ai,d and workforce programs to include the review and approval of academic programs and research centers. They also commission and conduct research and analysis and complete data reports, set tuition rates, administer funding formulas, and allocate funds. Some details about these entities:
- Organizational structures: In 28 states, there is a single statewide coordinating board, agency, or governing board. The other 22 have one or more major systemwide coordinating or governing board(s) and/or a statewide administrative/service agency.
- Leadership: Coordinating/governing boards appoint most postsecondary CEOs.
- Governor’s role: Majority of board members for state system and coordinating/governing boards are appointed; governors hold this authority for most boards.
- Ex-officio: Boards often include higher education leaders and state K-12 superintendents.
- Students: Students serve on numerous boards, typically appointed by the governor or selected by student government organizations.
- Faculty: Faculty members serve on some boards, usually selected by professional associations.
- New York: The State University of New York (SUNY) adopted a broad microcredential policy in 2018, following recommendations of the Micro-Credentialing Task Force created in 2015. Via a collaborative process and endorsed by SUNY Trustees, SUNY has a definition of microcredentials designed to ensure that the rigor and quality of microcredentials match that of SUNY’s other credentials. SUNY Micro-Credentials verify, validate, and attest that specific skills and/or competencies have been achieved; are endorsed by the issuing institution; are developed via established faculty governance processes; and are designed to be meaningful and high quality. SUNY has established a taxonomy of terms around microcredentials. It offers more than 400 microcredentials across 30-plus campuses.
- Indiana: Initiated by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, multiple state agencies and all public colleges and universities are working in partnership to increase credential transparency. They are working with Credential Engine and its Credential Transparency Descriptor Language (CTDL) as the means and common language to achieve this goal. Efforts focus on publishing information to the IN Credential Registry, a state-specific subset of the National Credential Engine Registry. While much data has already been published (more than 3,000 programs), and more is continuously added, increasing attention is now directed to integrating the data in the Registry with tools that help learners think through their career goals and find education/training programs to achieve those goals. The state’s newly licensed statewide Career Explorer software will point to the Registry for information about education and training. Through a partnership with Parchment, the state has a mature Indiana e-Transcript Program. It is universally used at the high school-to-college level (200,000 transcripts sent annually) and is being implemented at the college-to-college level. Ivy Tech Community College has licensed Parchment’s Award Diploma Services product that allows all graduates to be issued a digital credential. This credential links to the Registry, allowing employers to obtain all information about the credential and the college that has been published to the Registry, including the competencies associated with the credential.
Accreditation also plays an important role in the policy world. Higher education in the U.S. relies on accreditation to ensure quality and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
See Accreditation, Institutional Accreditation, and National Accreditation sections for more information about the types of accreditation, the kinds of accreditors, and developments among institutional accreditors to review trends around the rapidly changing credentialing world and the need for changes in their policies.
