Education secretary warns of ‘looming crisis’

Secretary of education Betsy DeVos has issued a “warning flag” for higher education in the United States, saying there is a crisis over student aid.

DeVos described America’s higher education system as “the envy of the world” at the annual Federal Student Aid Training Conference that took place in Atlanta, Georgia, at the end of November. But she said that significant policy changes were needed around federal student aid to prevent the program coming into “serious jeopardy”.

“Federal Student Aid was established to [support] students who lack financial resources to pursue higher education,” she said in a speech at the event. “Since its first iteration in 1965, however, it has outgrown its structure and its governance. That reality has increasingly significant implications for American families and the American economy.”