State Policy Network

This report explores how rural-serving institutions (RSIs) currently support parenting students and identifies opportunities to strengthen student success. Drawing on student support examples from RSIs across the country, we offer recommendations for federal policymakers to expand effective interventions that support parenting students’ ability to complete a credential. 

Recognizing that degree completion can increase economic mobility and long-term self-sufficiency, our new brief offers strategies for states and institutions to minimize coverage losses from Medicaid work requirements and allow students to focus on their studies, not their health coverage.

The spring 2026 edition of the TICAS State Policy Digest, a quarterly newsletter for state leaders that highlights state and federal efforts to increase affordability, accountability, and equity in higher education.

AI-driven application fraud is rising fast, but without adequate staffing and resources, prevention efforts risk blocking the very students aid is meant to serve.

As federal policy drives more graduate students to the private loan market, this blog outlines strategies for state policymakers to strengthen consumer protections, expand transparency, and ensure that the financial aid landscape works in the best interest of students—not lenders.

This report draws on quantitative and qualitative data to examine Black students’ reflections on their decisions to attend for-profit schools, personal experiences while enrolled, and levels of satisfaction. We also highlight opportunities for states to aid defrauded students and borrowers by investigating the problematic behaviors that occur too often at for-profit...