Dive Brief:

• The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, suggests that the federal government replace its higher education regulations with a performance floor to weed out the worst institutions, as well as a risk-sharing policy that would encourage colleges and universities to avoid having their students default on federal loans.
• The think tank’s report says that the federal policymakers should continue to use third-party accreditors to monitor the quality of higher ed institutions, but bring in new groups that are open to innovation to serve as overseers.
• The government should also collect and publish better data on student graduation rates and their incomes after graduation to help prospective students better evaluate college programs.

Dive Insight:

The report, Untapped Potential: Making the Higher Education Market Work for Students and Taxpayers, was funded by the American Enterprise Institute. While the U.S. Department of Education should expand the role that markets have in higher education, the markets can’t solve all of the problems, and students can fall prey to aggressive marketing and recruiting tactics, the report states.