Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

Washington, D.C., United States

Senior Investigator at New America

Investigations for @NewAmericaEd. Formerly of @HigherEdDive and @insidehighered. Find me on 🦋 he/him

Articles

The Trump Administration Is Wielding Accreditation as Political Weapon Against Columbia University

3 weeks ago | newamerica.org | Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

President Donald Trump is trying to contort the college accreditation system into a political weapon, and is strong-arming Columbia University’s accreditor into punishing it, all part of his broader campaign to reshape higher education along ideological lines. Accreditors determine whether colleges meet standards of quality. Those that pass muster gain access to federal student aid like Pell Grants and loans, which most colleges need to remain solvent.
Trump's Accreditation Guidance Sidesteps Core Higher Ed Safeguards

1 month ago | newamerica.org | Wesley Whistle |Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

The U.S. Department of Education issued guidance this week that it claims would streamline the process of switching accreditors, the agencies that evaluate whether colleges are offering quality programs. These are key entities in the American higher education accountability system—accreditors that the Education Department recognizes can distribute federal financial aid, taxpayer money known as Title IV funding, to their colleges.
Meet the Would-Be Accreditors Tied to Predatory For-Profit Colleges

2 months ago | republicreport.org | Jeremy Bauer-Wolf |David Halperin

The National Association for Academic Excellence, based in Kentucky, seems to be casting itself explicitly as an alternative to the current stock of accreditors the Trump administration is railing against.
Meet the Would-Be Accreditors Tied to Predatory For-Profit Colleges

2 months ago | newamerica.org | Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

About a decade ago, two notorious for-profit college chains—ITT Technical Institute and Corinthian Colleges—collapsed after state and federal investigations revealed they had defrauded their students. Their closures, essentially overnight, left tens of thousands of students without their promised credentials. Many had debts they couldn’t pay back.
Students Lose as Trump's Order Turns Accreditation Into a Political Tool

2 months ago | newamerica.org | Antoinette Flores |Jeremy Bauer-Wolf |Wesley Whistle

Last week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order claiming accreditors—organizations that gauge whether colleges offer quality programs—have abused their power. Accreditors, when approved by the U.S. Department of Education, have the ability to unlock federal financial aid for colleges. When those accreditors decide an institution meets their standards, that college can then access aid like Pell Grants and student loans.
Trump’s Bureaucratic Purge Renders GOP’s College Foreign Gift Bill Unenforceable

Mar 27, 2025 | newamerica.org | Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

President Donald Trump and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or U.S. DOGE Service, have spent the first months of his presidency shredding the federal bureaucracy and purging thousands of civil service workers, grinding parts of government to a standstill. That dysfunction is sabotaging Republican priorities too—the latest being a GOP-backed bill that would impose stricter requirements on colleges’ reporting of foreign gifts and contracts to the federal government.
How Cosmetology Education Cuts Students Dreams Short

Mar 20, 2025 | newamerica.org | Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

In the fall of 2023, the U.S. Department of Education introduced new consumer protections for college students through a federal regulation known as gainful employment. The rule set clear, common-sense benchmarks: career programs must show that graduates earn enough to repay student loans and surpass the average earnings of a high school graduate in their state.
How Cosmetology Education Cuts Students’ Dreams Short

Mar 20, 2025 | republicreport.org | Jeremy Bauer-Wolf |David Halperin

Editor’s Note: This piece highlights the findings of Cut Short, a new, comprehensive investigation by think tank New America into the troubling realities of cosmetology education. The full report unpacks how for-profit beauty schools exploit federal financial aid, burdening students with debt while failing to provide a viable path to financial stability.
U.S. Colleges Should Not Abandon Their Principles

Mar 6, 2025 | newamerica.org | Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

For years, the Republican party has presented itself as the stalwart defender of free speech on America’s college campuses, which it argues are inhospitable to conservative ideals. The longstanding trope still animates the party’s base, which encourages Republican lawmakers to continually rail against the liberal bastion of higher education, with promises to inject “diversity of thought” into academe.
Why Did It Take a Troubled Paul Mitchell Campus Years to Close?

Feb 28, 2025 | republicreport.org | Jeremy Bauer-Wolf |David Halperin

In August of last year, a Knoxville, Tennessee for-profit beauty school was told it would be stripped of its accreditation. That school, part of the prominent Paul Mitchell beauty chain, had violated the rules of the accreditor, the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences, requiring that institutions maintain sound finances. Paul Mitchell The School Knoxville needed accreditation to survive.