The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) is an independent, nonprofit research and policy organization that strives to increase college access, affordability, and success. Headquartered in Oakland, California, with a satellite office in Washington D.C., it conducts research, analysis, and student advocacy work. Its efforts have been cited by USA Today,Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, and The Atlantic.
TICAS is known for two annual publications; the report on The Project on Student Debt, which aims to reduce the burden of student loans and increase public understanding of their implications, and the Federal Policy Agenda (FPA), the subject of this post, which is a set of recommendations updated every year and submitted to Congress.
TICAS created the policy model that led to the first income-based student loan repayment plan, which President Bush signed into law in 2007. In addition to being a longtime advocate for Pell Grants, the organization also helped shift the focus of public attention from student loans to student debt.
The 2025 Federal Policy Agenda
The 2025 FPA advises members of the 119th Congress on ways to improve the higher education system in the U.S. to ensure that a college degree is an accessible, affordable, and a reliable route to the middle class. The FPA states in its introduction that, “Our higher education system faces extensive challenges, but a postsecondary credential remains the most reliable path to economic mobility, and the economy increasingly relies on people in the workforce who have some type of education and training beyond high school. Costs, however, remain a barrier, and the Federal student loan system faces unprecedented challenges.”
By 2031, the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce projects that 72% of jobs in the U.S. will require some type of postsecondary education or training. It is becoming clearer each year that postsecondary education is the best path to middle-class status for low-income Americans.
The FPA presents a comprehensive Federal policy agenda for higher education, one intended to ensure that the U.S. provides equal opportunity for a postsecondary degree to all students. Toward this end, the 2025 FPA has advised Congress to:
- Make college more accessible and affordable
- Reform the student loan system to protect borrowers
- Hold colleges accountable for providing quality education
- Help more students complete college
- Ensure that public benefit programs support postsecondary education
- Improve postsecondary education data and consumer information tools
The Cost Hurdle
Cost remains the highest barrier to college access. Even after accounting for savings, free aid, and earnings from a part-time job, most students from low-income families still face a “college affordability gap” in that they cannot cover college costs without taking on debt.
Currently, the Federal student loan system faces unprecedented difficulties. Legal and political obstacles to the last administration’s debt relief and repayment plan proposals have left tens of millions of borrowers vulnerable and confused. Borrowers need clear and reliable information, especially about repayment options, so they can make progress toward retiring their debt, maintaining good credit, and avoiding default.
Recommendations of TICAS’s 2025 FPA Report
- Protect and Strengthen the Pell Grant Program
The Pell Grant program is the Federal government’s foundational program for college affordability. It helps more than six million low-income students attend college and complete a degree annually. However, the share of college costs covered by Pell Grants is at an all-time low.
At its peak in 1975-76, the maximum Pell Grant covered more than three-quarters of the cost of attending a four-year public college. The 2024-25 maximum award covered only 26% of that cost. This shortfall contributes to the college affordability gap that many low-income students face. Many still need to borrow to cover the cost of college.
TICAS recommendations regarding Pell Grants include:
- Doubling the maximum amount of the Pell Grant,
- Restoring the Grant’s automatic annual inflation adjustments,
- Stabilizing the Pell Grant program by shifting to mandatory Federal funding,
- Eliminating the taxation of Pell Grants, and
- Expanding Pell Grant eligibility to DACA students.
- Create a Pathway to Debt-Free College
Federal and state governments make huge investments in higher education every year. State governments provide operating funds to public colleges—which collectively serve three-quarters of undergraduates—and provide $130 million in student financial aid. In the 2024-25 academic year, the Federal government provided over $300 billion in financial aid to undergraduate and graduate students in the form of grants, loans, tax credits, and work-study funds
However, a problem exists in that there is no coordination between Federal and state spending on higher education. This disconnect impedes Federal-state cooperation in reducing college costs and the need for borrowed funds by many students.
The principal recommendation made by TICAS is that that the U.S. should strive for a future in which all students can earn a two- or four-year degree at a public college without needing to borrow. Federal and state governments should work together to ensure that this goal is met
- Strengthen the Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) System
Millions of students face an affordability gap between college costs and available aid under the current system of funding a college education. Federal student loan programs serve as a less-than-ideal but often essential tool to bridge this gap. Low- and moderate-income students often take a substantial financial risk to enroll in college. For most, it pays off; for some, it doesn’t.
Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans shift some of risk away from individuals. IDR’s peg a borrower’s monthly payment to income and family size. This enables borrowers to remain current on their loans and avoid the devastation of default. There are now over 13 million borrowers enrolled in an IDR plan.
Without an IDR, many students would otherwise not risk trying to earn a degree for fear of default. Loan default comes with severe consequences, including wage garnishment. The absence of IDR options would have significant impact on the American economy by undermining the pathway to upward mobility for millions.
The U.S. Education Department (ED) initiated an IDR program in the 1990s in response to a growing problem: too many Federal loan borrowers couldn’t afford their monthly payments under the standard repayment plan. This meant that many borrowers, especially in times of financial hardship, faced a monthly choice between making their student loan payment and paying other bills to cover housing, utilities, medical care, transportation, or childcare costs.
With more than 42 million Americans currently holding Federal student loan debt, IDR’s are not just a set of repayment choices—they’re a critical social safety net. Over time, IDR’s have evolved to include a variety of different plans, each with their own benefits, trade-offs, and eligibility requirements. The one constant is that without access to an IDR plan, millions of student borrowers would be more likely to default on their loans or be unable to attend college at all.
Because lower income-based monthly payments usually extend a borrower’s term, IDR plans also provide another feature—light at the end of the tunnel. For many borrowers, their monthly income-based payments will never be sufficient to retire their debt. Instead of making borrowers remain in repayment status indefinitely, IDR’s discharge remaining debt after a fixed period of income-based payments, usually 10 or 25 years.
Additional 2025 TICAS Recommendations
The 2025 FPA submitted to Congress includes several other recommendations, as follows:
- Reform the Student Loan Default System
- Restore Bankruptcy Protections for Student Loan Borrowers
- Permanently End the Taxation of Discharged Student Debt
- Affirm the Need for Oversight and Enforcement
- Secure Protections for Online Students
- Ensure Full Implementation of Student Protections
- Reduce Risky Private Loans and Improve Protections for Borrowers
- Create a Federal Student-Level Data Network
- Implement a Financial Value Transparency Framework
- Improve Financial Aid Offer Communications
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