FAFSA Delays-Navigating the Thorny Landscape of College Unaffordability
For many low-income college students, the prevailing Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) delays are causing added panic to our ever-growing educational crisis of soaring college costs. IWPR's Policy Team weighs in.
FAFSA Delays-Navigating the Thorny Landscape of College Unaffordability
For many low-income college students, the prevailing Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) delays are causing added panic to our ever-growing educational crisis of soaring college costs. IWPR's Policy Team weighs in.
Abortion bans aren’t just attacks on reproductive freedom and women’s health. They’re unpopular policy decisions with serious economic consequences. New research from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimates that in the three years since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 16 states with the most restrictive abortion policies (as of December 2024) cost the US economy a staggering $64 billion in economic losses annually. And while these bans harm many, Black women bear [...]
June 17 marks LGBTQ+ Equal Pay Awareness Day—a day to call attention to the pay disparity that has impacted the queer community for far too long. Although data constraints on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) employees have limited research on the pay disparity experienced by this group overall, research has shown that subgroups, such as transgender individuals and LGBTQ+ people of color, are paid less than others in the labor market. Today, while LGBTQIA+ workers are [...]
In early May, researchers, practitioners, and advocates came together at the National Skills Coalition’s (NSC) annual Skills Summit to discuss issues related to skills-based education—training programs that focus on developing specific skills or competencies (versus traditional educational programs requiring a certain number of credit hours, tests, and grades.) Why does skills-based education matter? How can policies be leveraged to make college and career pathways more accessible? What are high-value credentials? What is the role of relevant data collection in measuring [...]
It is no secret that technology is reshaping the labor market in profound ways. But what may not always be as obvious is that these changes disproportionately impact women. In fact, the 2019 IWPR report Women, Automation, and the Future of Work found that while women made up less than half (47 percent) of the workforce, they accounted for 58 percent of workers at the highest risk of automation. The introduction of ChatGPT in 2022 gave rise to various [...]
Key committees in the US House of Representatives are scheduled to convene the week of May 12 to advance plans to identify at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to safety-net programs, as required by the budget resolution that passed the House (largely along party lines) on April 10. Alarmingly, experts, including the Congressional Budget Office, agree that the only way to make such cuts possible would be through dramatic cuts or changes to Medicaid—a program essential to the well-being [...]
The importance—if not the necessity—of paid leave for women and families cannot be overstated. Research from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) has consistently shown that paid leave is essential for individuals to care for their health or that of a loved one. Yet, in the absence of a national paid leave policy, access remains inconsistent, leaving many workers vulnerable. IWPR’s latest report, conducted as part of its Policy for Action Research Hub, highlights the significant impact of DC [...]
