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Student First

Written by David S. Nelson    Sunday, 25 December 2011

A return to the Education Department's loftiest echelons made James Kvaal appreciate some similarities there under the Obama and the Clinton administrations. "We've had great leaders in [Education Secretary] Arne Duncan and [Clinton appointee] Richard Riley, who share the same humility, encourage a collegial staff environment and focus on the impact of policies on individual students," Kvaal says. "I'm grateful to be here for a second time." As deputy undersecretary of Education, Kvaal inherited responsibility for the new direct federal role in student loans, a rare government assumption of what had been a lucrative private sector service. The transfer was mandated by a controversial amendment to the landmark 2010 health care reform law. Much credit for the program's "smooth transition," he is careful to say, goes to Education's former chief operating officer Bill Taggart, who led the effort. "Some were saying government wasn't capable of expanding the program so quickly. It is now one of the largest financial institutions in the country," Kvaal says. "Many of the best from the private companies are now our contractors." Kvaal, a youthful 37, boasts a resume ranging from politics to policy. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he went from the Clinton Education Department to working for Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and then for Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C, on his 2008 presidential bid before moving to the Center for American Progress and on to the White House National Economic Council. Though he's conversant in health care and tax policy, Kvaal made his reputation with a paper that exposed exploitation in the student loan system. He co-authored the paper with former Education deputy undersecretary Robert Shireman, a longtime advocate of government lending. For Kvaal, steering policy and implementing it have been markedly different. "On a campaign the task is to help the boss articulate a vision, working off a broad canvas," he says. "At an agency, there is a greater level of detail, and it's rewarding to see how often a small decision matters in the lives of people." The example he gives is the simplification of the department's unwieldy Free Application for Federal Student Aid. "There were 150 questions, most of which were not relevant to any one student," Kvaal says. "We now get millions fewer pieces of data every year, which was commonsensical." Kvaal says his biggest challenge was the June 2011 gainful employment regulation, which requires for-profit colleges seeking eligibility for federal aid to track how well their graduates do in job searches. "A lot of for-profits do an excellent job, but lots of them leave students with large debts and poor employment prospects," he says. His next goal is to focus on college completion rates. "As a nation we've invested a lot in four-year colleges and community colleges, but we have not done as good a job helping those who start at these schools get across the finish line," Kvaal says.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 25 December 2011 )