WASHINGTON — A new higher education advocacy group made its public debut Monday with a new federal policy framework and a focus on nontraditional students.
“Overall, our policy framework is governed by the idea that our federal policies are out of date,” said Julie Peller, executive director of the new organization, Higher Learning Advocates based here in the district.
“We want make sure students are first, that we are not leading necessarily with our policies but that our policies are led by the needs of students,” Peller said.
For its first public event — held at the National Press Club — Higher Learning Advocates featured two current students seen as being reflective of “today’s students,” that is, students who are parents, stopped out of college, veterans and the like.
One of the students, John Englehart, a married father of two children, ages 3 and 6, spoke of the financial sacrifice his family has had to make since he returned to school after what ended up being a 10-year hiatus from higher education.
Not a single vacation has the family taken, much to the chagrin of Englehart’s 6-year-old daughter, whom he promised he would take to Disney World after he graduated.
When he got frustrated with his school work and closed his laptop one evening, there she was telling him to “get back to work because you’re gonna graduate and I’m going to Disney World.”
