A Year of Progress and Partnership: Highlights From 2025 and What Comes Next

Dear colleagues and partners,  

This year upended higher education in myriad ways. Abrupt funding cuts, contract cancellations, and major staffing reductions at the Department of Education (ED) disrupted research and data collections and the resources students and practitioners rely on. Rapid change created uncertainty and confusion among colleges. And the public continues to ask pressing questions about the value of higher education. 

But, amidst this tumult, the resolve, collaboration, and unwavering commitment to students that so many of you have demonstrated have been a constant throughline. Reflecting on this year brings me deep gratitude for our partnerships—new and old, our shared successes, and the promise that next year brings. As we prepare to continue our student-centered work together, I’d like to share my gratitude highlights for 2025, including: 

1. Increased college attainment nationwide. Driven by the collective postsecondary attainment movement launched in 2008, the national attainment rate has risen from 38 percent to 55 percent. To mark this progress and spur momentum for further gains many of you helped shape Celebrating and Accelerating Attainment: 2025 & Beyond, a landmark convening of nearly 500 college leaders, researchers, funders, and practitioners. This timely gathering promoted evidence-based solutions for higher education to enhance family prosperity, community needs, and the strength of our democracy.  
2. The courage and expertise of partners who have joined our efforts to combat threats to data and evidence. When the Department slashed contracts and data collections at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), nearly 90 organizations, including many of you, joined us to urge Congress and ED to restore essential studies, preserve public data, and protect the backbone of evidence-driven policy. Building on our coalition’s advocacy, we—together with the Association for Education Finance and Policy—sued ED to compel action. In tandem, we launched the Case for IES Postsecondary Studies and Resources series to spotlight the data and insights at risk. This collective advocacy yielded important wins including the restoration of crucial studies such as the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study.  
3. $73 million in economic value generated annually by colleges and universities. Despite questions about postsecondary value, the evidence is clear and compelling: higher education pays off. IHEP’s analysis using the Postsecondary Value Commission’s framework demonstrates that postsecondary institutions nationwide generate more than $73 billion annually simply through the earnings boost their students receive compared with typical high school graduates, even after accounting for what students paid for their educational costs. 
4. The analytic prowess of partners who are harnessing the power of data to demonstrate value and improve student success. For example, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), one of IHEP’s Value Data Collaborative participants, learned that its graduates earn 65 percent more over their lifetimes than high school graduates in Pennsylvania. This insight is now informing their push for increased state investment in higher education. And through the Postsecondary Data for Action Network, our new year-long learning community, we’re helping colleges identify and address barriers to completion through data analysis and policy engagement. 
5. Partnerships to advance transparency about program-level costs. For the first time, ED has collected data for the Financial Value Transparency (FVT) framework, which includes new data on costs such as tuition, fees, and supplies so students know how much they’ll pay for specific programs of study. The IHEP-led Postsecondary Data Collaborative’s recommendations guided FVT’s implementation, and we hope to see those data published in the new year.   
6. The power of research to unearth inequities and point towards solutions. This year, our Wealth, Race, and Higher Education series, alongside our unmet need analyses, generated a fuller understanding of how affordability shapes students’ aspirations, persistence, and economic mobility.  These experiences vary widely by race and ethnicity. For example, family assets can shape whether students have resources for food and housing, can persist through college, and build wealth after graduation. These insights are crucial to grounding policy in sound evidence.  
7. Promising strategies to improve college access. Colleges and universities nationwide are seeking evidence-based practices to help more first-generation students and students from low-income backgrounds chart a path to a degree. As one example, our profile of California’s experience shows how clear transfer pathways, robust data infrastructure, and direct outreach have proven promising in widening postsecondary opportunity.  
8. The dedication, talent, passion, and joy of the IHEP team. The mission-driven work we all do is hard. During a year of disruption, it is even harder. Yet, the IHEP team continues to fill me with hope and inspiration day in and day out. This year we welcomed new talent—Erin Velez, Vice President of Research; Amber McKowen, Director of Finance; Jocelyn Salguero, Assistant Director of Policy; Joana Vargas, Operations Manager; and remarkable interns Michael Tidwell, Rosario Durán, Dahlia Tarver, and Sydney Carroll—who strengthened every aspect of our work.  

Thank you for your steadfast commitment to students. In the coming year, IHEP will continue safeguarding federal data, elevating promising admissions, affordability, and completion strategies, and advancing policy solutions that deliver strong outcomes for all students. With partners like you, we will keep building the evidence and tools to create pathways to opportunity and success—no matter what uncertainties lie ahead. 

With gratitude,  

Mamie Voight  

President & CEO, Institute for Higher Education Policy