High-Stakes Policy Talks Shed Light on ED’s Playbook
Jessica Blake
January 22, 2026
In negotiating loan caps, a Pell Grant expansion and accountability measures, the Education Department made few concessions and yet secured unanimous agreement. Here’s how they did it.
The Department of Education has had a successful few months when it comes to advancing policies that could dramatically reshape federal student aid. But officials’ tactics for doing so have raised concern among many of higher ed’s top leaders and policy analysts.
Over the course of the last four months, Under Secretary Nicholas Kent and his staff secured unanimous support from a variety of college leaders, state officials and student advocates on plans that cap graduate student loans, expand the Pell Grant to short-term job training programs and establish a new accountability measure for all colleges and universities—an outcome that defied initial expectations and one Kent touted.
