Jason Delisle

Today the New America Foundation's Education Policy Program released "Cost Estimates for Federal Student Loans: The Market Cost Debate," by the program's Research Director Jason Delisle. This paper exposes misleading and erroneous information published by student loan industry trade associations and government agencies regarding the cost of federal student loan programs. The report comes at a time when disruptions in the credit… more

In an ongoing debate about the relative costs of the federal government’s direct and guaranteed student loan programs, some budget experts and private lenders have argued for the use of “market cost” estimates. They assert that official government cost estimates for federal student loans differ from what private entities would likely charge taxpayers to deliver the benefits and services the program provides. A market cost estimate would take such information into account.

Although the market cost concept for federal student loans… more

That policy change has made it less appealing for Congress to postpone paying for the Pell Grant program, says Jason Delisle, a former senior analyst on the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee who now works for the New America Foundation, a public-policy institute. LINK (subscription required)

...In addition to financial aid, the law will also dole out matching grants aimed at boosting the number of first-generation and low-income college students, and will give $510 million to Hispanic, black and other minority-serving institutions.

Overall, the measures will relieve some pressure on students and families — but not too much, said Jason Delisle, an education researcher at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers would have liked to do more, but they had… more

Today the New America Foundation's Federal Education Budget Project released "A Primer on the Budget Resolution's Impact on Education Funding," by the project's Research Director Jason Delisle. The primer serves as an insightful guide to this confusing and often partisan process by which federal education funding is determined. Last week the Congressional budget committees adopted the first drafts of the fiscal year 2009 budget resolution, marking the start of the annual Congressional budget… more

The budget resolution put forward by Congress each year -- which sets out the congressional budget plan for the next five years -- and the ensuing budget process itself are enormously significant for education funding. However, the arcane procedures under which Congress produces and acts upon the budget resolution are often confusing to the media and education advocates alike. This confusion is made worse by political rhetoric and partisan spin. This brief by the New America Foundation’s Federal Education Budget… more

Senate Budget Would Boost Advance Approps By $4 Billion (CongressDaily PM, subscription only)

. . . "There's no reason to do it other than to increase spending," said Jason Delisle, an education analyst at the New America Foundation. Backers "want the money by any means necessary, but the trade-off is the debate gets confused and the budget lacks transparency." Advance funding for education grew out of a timing quirk whereby the academic year… more

President Bush: A Friend of Higher Education After All? (The Chronicle of Higher Education, subcription only) ... Mr. Bush has, however, given researchers, and their colleagues throughout higher education, something else of value: money. The president has been "highly successful" in winning increases for higher education from Congress, according to an analysis published last month by the New America Foundation, a Washington-based research and advocacy group that is often critical of the Bush administration. more

Next week, President George W. Bush will submit his eighth and final budget request to the Congress. How has he fared with respect to education budget proposals thus far? Answer: although President Bush made the No Child Left Behind Act, which deals with elementary and secondary education, the hallmark of his education policy, from a federal education budget standpoint, the Bush administration’s most lasting legacy thus far is in higher education. The New America Foundation’s Federal Education Budget Project evaluated all… more

In Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius's Democratic response to President Bush’s final State of the Union Speech Monday night, she touted a new law to “reduce the costs of college loans” as one of the major… more