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higher education

Federal data flags 500 colleges with student loan nonpayment at 40% or higher

Illustration accompanying article: Federal data flags 500 colleges with student loan nonpayment at 40% or higher
  • The Education Department's federal loan nonpayment data flag 500 U.S. colleges where at least 40% of recent student borrowers are failing to repay, according to NPR's review of the figures.
  • Of the 500 institutions, 424 are private, for-profit schools; public and private nonprofit colleges averaged about 15% nonpayment, compared with 33% across the for-profit sector.
  • Lisa Collenbaugh enrolled at UEI College in 2015, paying $19,500 for a short-term program she never finished, and still owes the U.S. government $10,389.47.
  • Most for-profit colleges on the list derive more than half their revenue from federal student aid, according to data compiled by the Project on Predatory Student Lending.
  • The Education Department's cohort-default-rate accountability test has been suspended since the pandemic; a new earnings-based test takes effect for the 2028-2029 financial aid award year.
  • Undersecretary of Education Nicholas Kent said institutions must "step up or risk losing access to federal student aid."
 2026-09-16 · 3 MIN READ

Judge blocks Trump visa duration caps for foreign students, journalists

Illustration accompanying article: Judge blocks Trump visa duration caps for foreign students, journalists
  • US District Judge F. Dennis Saylor on Monday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a new rule one day before it was set to take effect that would have capped how long foreign students, cultural-exchange workers, and journalists can remain in the US without applying for visa extensions.
  • Saylor ruled that the Department of Homeland Security's national-security and fraud-prevention rationales were "exceptionally weak" and that the agency failed to engage with concerns or consider less burdensome alternatives.
  • The rule, adopted in July, would have replaced a nearly five-decade "duration of status" system by capping F student visas and J cultural-exchange visas at four years and I journalist visas at 240 days.
  • About 1.6 million people hold F visas and another 500,000 hold J visas; Saylor warned that if the rule took effect, the damage to higher education and the US economy was likely to be "catastrophic."
  • Miriam Feldblum of the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, one of the plaintiffs, said the ruling preserves the longstanding system that enables US colleges to "attract, educate, and retain global talent."
 2026-09-15 · 4 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: House sends Israel-boycott university bill to Senate in 237-169 vote