College is one of the biggest investments of a student’s lifetime.
We help ensure that investment pays off for more students.
Who We Are
The HEA Group is a research and policy organization dedicated to improving the value of higher education and increasing economic mobility.
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We translate complex higher education data into accessible research, interactive tools, and actionable policies that empower lawmakers, institutional leaders, and prospective students to make more informed decisions. Through our work, we help lead the national conversation on higher education outcomes, economic mobility, and evidence-based institutional policy.
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The HEA Group was founded in 2023 by Michael Itzkowitz, former Director of the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard, to improve higher education outcomes throughout the United States. Building on decades of experience in higher education policy, our organization was created to provide students, institutions, and policymakers with clear, accessible research on postsecondary outcomes.
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We believe that all higher education stakeholders deserve access to the best and most verifiable data available. Rather than storing this information on our hard drives, The HEA Group makes all of its data and insights freely available for download by the general public.
Leading the Conversation
Our work has been featured by major news organizations including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NPR, CBS News, Forbes, USA Today, The Boston Globe, Politico, Inside Higher Ed, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Higher Ed Dive, and more.
Our research has also supported collaborations with foundations, nonprofits, state governments, and national organizations committed to improving postsecondary success.
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Seeing whether a college’s former students are earning “reasonable” incomes, said Michael Itzkowitz, HEA Group’s founder and president, can help people weigh whether they want to cross some institutions off their list. Someone deciding between similar colleges, for example, can see the institution that has produced students with significantly higher incomes. While income isn’t necessarily the only criteria to consider when comparing schools, Mr. Itzkowitz said, “it’s a very good starting point.”
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Today, the HEA Group and College Futures Foundation launched the California Mobility Index (CMI), a groundbreaking new ranking system for California’s four-year institutions that reimagines how we might measure higher education success.
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In new research, Itzkowitz highlights 10 schools that are true engines of economic mobility: They enroll the highest proportion of students from low- and moderate-income backgrounds and "provide them with a strong return on their educational investment."
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Mr. Itzkowitz is adamant that certain schools do have some explaining to do. “There are some institutions that are in the business of enrolling a high proportion of low-income students,” he said, “and ultimately leave them worse off than if they hadn’t attended college in the first place.”
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There are other advantages to a higher education than financial, Itzkowitz noted. “But people should at least go into it with an understanding of how much they’re paying for that credential and whether it’s likely to pay off, in the short term or the long term.”
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About 260,000 graduates who received federal financial aid were examined in the report, which was commissioned by the nonprofit, Oakland-based College Futures Foundation and conducted by the HEA Group, a research and consulting firm focused on college access, value and economic mobility, using federal and institutional data.
“We know that attending college can be one of the largest investments that anyone makes beyond getting a mortgage,” said Michael Itzkowitz, the HEA Group’s president, who wrote the report. “So it’s critical that we have all of the data in front of us to ensure that we’re making the most informed choice possible.”...“It’s critical that students not only investigate the institution that they’re applying to, but also the field of study that they’re looking to consider,” Itzkowitz said.
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Bachelor’s degree programs, which typically take four years, are generally more expensive but are most likely to show at least some return on investment — meaning graduates earn enough to pay off their college costs reasonably quickly — for those who complete a degree, compared with two-year associate degrees or shorter certificate programs. That’s good news for students who completed those four-year programs, said the report’s author, Michael Itzkowitz…
FOX News (July 2026)