Sixty Years of the Higher Education Act

In November 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed landmark legislation into law that aimed to make higher education more accessible and affordable for low-income and middle-class students. “This legislation passed by this Congress will swing open a new door for the young people of America,” President Johnson said of the Higher Education Act (HEA), which created the federal student aid programs. “It means that a high-school senior anywhere in this great land of ours can apply to any college or any university in any of the 50 states and not be turned away because his family is poor.”

A little more than 60 years later, New America will host a live discussion to explore the legacy of the HEA. The discussion, which will include former congressional staffers who have played key roles in reauthorizing the statute over the years, will focus on the following questions: What has the HEA accomplished? Where has it fallen short? And are the student aid programs that the HEA created still fulfilling their mission? Or are there alternative policy approaches that are needed to advance accessibility, affordability, accountability, and equity in the decades ahead?

Breakfast will be served at the event.