Federal Focus, Tennessee Lens: How Federal Vouchers and the Earnings Premium Framework Threaten Educational Opportunity

Join us on October 10, 2025 at 12pm CT/1pm ET to explore how recent federal policy changes under the recently passed “Big Beautiful Bill” could impact educational opportunity for Tennessee’s students.

During this session we will cover the Earnings Premium (EP) Framework, which evaluates whether college programs help graduates earn more than peers who didn’t complete a similar program. Programs that fail this test risk losing access to federal student financial aid, putting students’ access to higher education at risk.

While the goal is to support student success and economic opportunity, we want to better understand how this could affect students and career fields with low wages but provide significant social value, such as teaching, social work, and community service roles that are essential for young people and communities across Tennessee.

We’ll also discuss the Federal Voucher Program that could divert $56 billion a year to a system that allows…