Governance & finance

Core faculty

Katherine Michelmore

Associate Professor of Public Policy

Katherine Michelmore is an associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Michelmore is a leading scholar and educator on the social safety net, education policy, labor economics, and…

Publication

Supporting 'Preschool for All' in Washington state

Nov 12, 2021

Policy Brief from the University of Michigan’s Education Policy Initiative outlines a vision for high-quality universal preschool in the state of Washington High-quality preschool helps prepare children for kindergarten and promotes their long-term...

Supporting 'Preschool for All' in Washington state

Publication

Michelmore and Pilkauskas find EITC boosts employment, with decreasing impact as children age

Oct 4, 2021

Existing research has largely overlooked the variation in maternal employment effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) depending on the age of their children. In a new study, Katherine Michelmore and Natasha Pilkauskas, both associate...

Who’s caring for the kids? The Earned Income Tax Credit and child care arrangements

News

Biden's plan for universal preschool, explained - Weiland

May 12, 2021

On April 28, the Biden Administration announced the American Families Plan, which includes universal preschool for all three- and four-year-olds. Christina Weiland, associate professor of education at the Ford School, weighed in on the plan and...

Investment in Pre-K can expand access, increase pay - Weiland

News

Dynarski’s research and advocacy for a simplified FAFSA becomes reality

Apr 23, 2021

Professor Sue Dynarski laid out the reality of pursuing higher education for many students in a 2015 NYT op-ed. “Many smart students forgo college in the mistaken belief that they cannot afford it,” she wrote. “The financial aid system, which is...

Susan Dynarski: University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor Lecture

Publication

Dynarski’s research shows default options key to student loan repayment

Feb 13, 2021

Susan Dynarski’s recent research, “Designed to fail: Effects of the default option and information complexity on student loan repayment,” shows the powerful effects of default options and how making an income driven repayment (IDR) plan the default...

News

The student loan system has "layers and layers of dysfunction"

Jan 6, 2021 "The student loan system has 'layers and layers of dysfunction'" podcast

As President-elect Joe Biden mulls forgiving $10,000 in student loan debt — and leading Democrats and others on his left push for more — one of our listeners wants to know: What would that do to the economy, and is it even possible for the White...

News

How the federal government could make college free

Oct 13, 2020 "How the federal government could make college free" article

"Kevin Stange is quoted in a recent Market Watch article." (read...

Two students walking on a college campus

News

Applications for financial aid lagging among Michigan low-income students

Aug 9, 2020

The economic hardship for low-income families caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may have another casualty: high school seniors accessing financial aid to attend college. Applications for federal and state financial aid for college are a leading...

Stange and co-authors study cost differences across fields of study at colleges and universities

News

Why the move to online instruction won’t reduce college costs

Aug 7, 2020

In an essay for the Chalkboard blog at the Brookings Institution, Kevin Stange, associate professor of public policy at the Ford School, reports on analysis of the move to online teaching at colleges and universities across the U.S. He and his...

News

Making up for lost time for millions of children, U.S. education needs a major rescue effort

May 8, 2020

For most students, the school year ended in March, according to a New York Times commentary by Ford School professor Susan Dynarski. She outlines both the education lost for American students from school closures and what will need to be done to...

News

The economic downturn may lead to a change in college major choices

May 5, 2020

Research has shown that in an economic downturn, students often shift to studying more career-oriented subjects like health sciences or engineering. The 2008 recession confirmed this trend: after remaining stable for the previous decade, from 2008...

Stange examines data bias caused by college graduates' out-of-state migration

News

Susan Dynarski explains who struggles most with student debt

Jul 11, 2019

News coverage about student debt is piling up, just like the student debt itself. But the people who are struggling the most with student debt aren’t the ones you may expect, explains Susan Dynarski, professor of public policy, in an interview with...

Susan Dynarski explains who struggles most with student debt

News

Dynarski testifies before House Subcommittee on Education and Labor

May 10, 2019

College access has been getting a lot of buzz, but getting more people to enroll in higher education is only the first step. Helping people graduate is proving a larger hurdle, something the House Committee on Education and Labor’s Subcommittee on...

Dynarski testifies before House Subcommittee on Education and Labor

State & Hill

HAILed it - Tuition-free promise attracts low-income students to U-M

Apr 5, 2019

A research study that centered around a large maize-and-blue-striped envelope caught the attention of more than just the students it sought to target. The work launched a larger initiative at the University of Michigan and is being lauded as...

HAILed it - Tuition-free promise attracts low-income students to U-M

News

More harm than good? Professor Brian Jacob criticizes the continued turnover of accountability systems for Michigan schools

Jan 18, 2019

During the waning days of 2018, a lame-duck session of the Michigan legislature voted to implement a new letter-grade apparatus for evaluating Michigan school performance. The implementation of a new accountability system may cause more headaches...

More harm than good? Professor Brian Jacob criticizes the continued turnover of accountability systems for Michigan schools

News

It’s HAILing coverage for Susan Dynarski and team

Dec 21, 2018

Last week, Susan Dynarski, Ford School professor, and her fellow researchers released a new research study titled “Closing the Gap: The Effect of a Targeted, Tuition-Free Promise on College Choices of High-Achieving, Low-Income Students.” Since...

It’s HAILing coverage for Susan Dynarski and team

News

HAILed it: Tuition-free promise effectively recruits low-income students to U-M

Dec 12, 2018

ANN ARBOR—High-achieving, low-income students who received personalized commitment of financial aid are more than twice as likely to apply, be admitted to and enroll in a top-tier university, according to a new University of Michigan...

HAILed it: Tuition-free promise effectively recruits low-income students to U-M

EPI Policy briefs

An Evidence-Based Path to Expanding High-Quality Pre-K in Michigan

December 5, 2023

Christina Weiland, Ajay Chaudry, Anna Shapiro, Jordy Berne, Nicole Hamp, Anne Taylor

Most of the eventual, large income-based disparities in student achievement are in place on the first day of kindergarten. Research is clear that high-quality prekindergarten (Pre-K) is one of our most effective tools for narrowing these early gaps...

EPI Policy briefs

Public School Funding, School Quality, and Adult Crime

July 14, 2022

Jason Baron, Joshua Hyman, Brittany Vasquez

Given the large costs of crime to society, there is substantial policy interest in identifying effective crime-prevention strategies. Many studies have focused on the effects of increasing the size of the police force and on the effects of tougher...

EPI Policy briefs

Understanding the Psychosocial Effects of the Flint Water Crisis on School-Age Children in Michigan

May 19, 2022

Sam Trejo, Gloria Yeomans-Maldonado, Brian Jacob, Samuel Owusu

In early 2016, the Flint Water Crisis captured national attention; major news outlets reported that the city’s tap water had been contaminated with lead since April of 2014. While Flint residents alerted officials about the changes to their drinking...

EPI Working papers

Public School Funding, School Quality, & Adult Crime

March 1, 2022

Jason Baron, Joshua Hyman, Brittany Vasquez

This paper asks whether improving the quality of public schools can be an effective long-run crime-prevention strategy in the U.S. Specifically, we examine the effect of school quality improvements early in children's lives on the likelihood that...

EPI Policy briefs

Preschool for All: A Strong Start for Washington State’s Children

October 1, 2021

Christina Weiland, Tim Burgess, Ajay Chaudry, Ruth Kagi, Anna Shapiro, Casey Moran

Washington State has an early childhood crisis roiling almost invisibly across the state, with many children not receiving the strong and fair start in life they need and deserve. This crisis has life-long implications for children because early...

EPI Policy briefs

Applications for Financial Aid Lagging Among Low-Income Students

August 1, 2020

Sabrina Solanki, Kevin Stange, Orlando Sanchez Zavala, Catherine Brown

Applications for federal and state financial aid for college are a leading indicator of how many students will enroll in and complete a college degree. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the Tuition Incentive Program (TIP), a...

EPI Working papers

School Finance Reforms, Teachers' Unions, and the Allocation of School Resources

June 1, 2018

Joshua Hyman, Eric Brunner, Andrew Ju

School finance reforms caused some of the most dramatic increases in intergovernmental aid from states to local governments in U.S. history. We examine whether teacher unions affected the fraction of reforminduced state aid that passed through to...

EPI Working papers

Getting Student Financing Right in the US: Lessons from Australia and England

March 1, 2017

Susan Dynarski, Nicholas Barr, Bruce Chapman, Lorraine Dearden

The US student loan system is currently in crisis. US graduates owe $1.3 trillion in student loans; seven million borrowers are in default and even more are in arrears. The impact on borrowers is catastrophic. We argue that this is mainly due to the...

EPI Working papers

The Changing Federal Role in School Accountability

January 30, 2017

Brian Jacob

This is a point / counterpoint. The goal of the article is to discuss the influence of school accountability policies on educational inputs (e.g., funding, teacher quality, instructional practices, and school organization) as well as outputs (e.g.,...

EPI Working papers

Does Money Matter in the Long Run? Effects of School Spending on Education Attainment

November 1, 2016

Joshua Hyman

This paper measures the effect of increased primary school spending on students' college enrollment and completion. Using student-level panel administrative data, I exploit variation in the school funding formula imposed by Michigan's 1994 school...

EPI Working papers

Tax Benefits for College Attendance

March 1, 2016

Susan Dynarski, Judith Scott-Clayton

National efforts to promote college enrollment are increasingly delivered through tax-based assistance, including tax credits and deductions for tuition and fees, tax-advantaged college savings plans, and student loan interest deductions. This paper...

EPI Working papers

Investing in Schools: Capital Spending, Facility Conditions and Student Achievement

September 1, 2015

Kevin Stange, Paco Martorell, Issac McFarlin

Public investments in repairs, modernization, and construction of schools cost billions. However, little is known about the nature of school facility investments, whether it actually changes the physical condition of public schools, and the...