Public Affairs Lecture Series

"From Public Good to Personal Gain: Shifting Higher Education Funding"

7 p.m. Wednesday, February 1
Firstenburg Student Commons

EVENT PASSED

Student financial aid and public support for higher education was founded on the idea that education benefits all of society. Recent changes in policy and cuts in higher education funding call into question whether those traditional philosophies still hold true. As state and federal deficits climb, unrelenting focus on deficit reduction has made for budget-centric education policy—a focus that has driven more change in higher education funding in the past six years than in the previous 60. Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators will discuss how decreased financial support for higher education adversely affects student access, success and persistence in higher education, and how nontransparent cuts to funding have effectively removed the public from the debate entirely.

Biography

Justin Draeger is president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. He is a first-generation, undergraduate and graduate degree recipient with more than 14 years of experience helping disadvantaged populations achieve their goals and better their communities, including 10 years in administering, interpreting, communicating or developing student aid policy. He serves as the primary voice of NASFAA and as the liaison between the association and members, education community partners, the Congress, the White House, the U.S. Department of Education, other government agencies and the media. As a spokesperson for the association, Justin has been featured on The Today Show on NBC, National Public Radio, CNBC, C-SPAN and in numerous national publications. Justin began his career in student aid working as a financial aid director at the Douglas J Aveda Institute in East Lansing, Michigan and went on to work for the Michigan Guaranty Agency as a lead regulatory analyst before joining NASFAA in 2006. Prior to his appointment as president, Justin worked in the communications and public policy departments at NASFAA. Justin volunteers and serves on the board of regents of Baker College and other organizations that promote health and education, including Pueblo-a-Pueblo, a charitable nonprofit that seeks to build sustainable, viable and healthy indigenous communities in Guatemala. He earned a bachelor’s of science in resource management from Brigham Young University and a master’s in business administration finance from Baker College.

Series sponsors