TICAS advocates for every student, regardless of race, ethnicity, or family wealth, to have access to a quality higher education program without the need to incur debt to realize their dreams of earning a college credential.
We try to understand college opportunity through careful research and by listening to the students and those who serve them. We combine concrete, tailored policy recommendations with passionate, sophisticated advocacy, nationally and in California, Michigan, and New York.
Learn about our workH.R.1 is a missed opportunity to increase economic mobility and reduce long-term reliance on SNAP. Our new report breaks down the economic and societal benefits of including higher education as qualifying employment option for SNAP benefits and provides concrete policy recommendations for implementation.
Our new fact sheet examines the private loan borrowing landscape for graduate students over the past 30 years and raises concerns that the OBBBA may drive more students into the risky private loan market or prevent them from obtaining graduate credentials altogether.
Our federal policy tracker is designed to keep you informed and involved on all things higher ed policy. We share breaking news, analyses, and tools for grassroots advocacy as we work to hold policymakers accountable for the promises they made to students, borrowers, and families across the country.
42% of student loan borrowers surveyed report making tradeoffs between loan payments and covering their basic needs, and 20% said they are currently in either delinquency or default. (TICAS/Data For Progress Borrower Survey, 2025)
This blog and accompanying model legislation provide states with a structure for schools to gain approval for Workforce Pell Grant funds and guardrails to protect students from needlessly expensive programs, unaccredited bad actors, and other potential problems that Congress did not solve.
TICAS commissioned Data for Progress to survey federal student loan borrowers currently in repayment. The findings bring even greater urgency to ongoing concerns about a…
