Learning From the Past, Predicting the Future: Higher Education Regulation and the President's First Year

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Perspectives on Federal Policy

Abstract

During the first year of a U.S. presidency, administrations often experience a period of goodwill and unique opportunities to make advances on their policy agendas (Light, 1994). In federal agencies, the first year brings new leadership and, frequently, instructions to freeze or reverse the predecessor’s regulatory policy. But the issue of how first-year activity within the U.S. Department of Education has influenced higher education policy is still an open question. This paper provides a descriptive account of the department’s activities during presidential first years, explores how these activities relate to higher education policy later in the presidency, and predicts what the department’s regulatory activity during the first year of the current administration means for higher education policy going forward.

Author

• Rebecca S. Natow, Hofstra University