Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This research analyzes the effects of politics and agenda setting on the plight of African American students’ participation in institutions of higher education. The two variables of this study are the media’s framing of social challenges and the political ideology spread in Congress. In evaluating the role of my two independent variables, this project seeks to determine their influence on the development of higher education policy. Specifically, this project focuses on the resulting outcomes on the ability of African American to complete their post-secondary education. This phenomenon is synthesized through the examination of the Higher Education Act of 1965, subsequent reauthorizations, and revisions to the Parent PLUS Loan Program (PPL) during the Obama administration. This study considers the aforementioned education policy within the context of federal funding to determine how such policies influenced the outcomes for African American students. Through the exploration of the higher education legislation in the House and Senate and the Department of Education’s “Dear Colleague” standard setting letters, I found that the independent variables do impact the ability of African American students to complete their post-secondary degree.