From empty seats to shared success: Course-sharing can keep students on track to graduate and create fiscal and operational efficiencies for institutions.

Shrinking state funding in the 1970s forced colleges to shift costs to students, ending the era of widespread tuition-free higher education. Expanded federal student loans then helped drive tuition sharply higher, according to History.

In 2026, the federal government will curb access to billions of dollars in student loans, reconfigure how borrowers repay their debt and provide new grant money for short-term career training programs.