Alex Holt

Policy Analyst, Education Policy Program

Photo of Alex Holt

Alex Holt is a policy analyst with the Education Policy Program at New America where he focuses on the economics of higher education as well as pre-K education data. Holt designed a calculator application to show the effects of a new policy, income-based repayment for federal student loans, which exposed previously unknown windfall effects of the program that were published in a frequently referenced paper he co-authored. He also helped create the first-ever database of publicly funded pre-K at the school district level. His estimates for the costs of alternative education proposals, including universal pre-K in the U.S., have also been widely cited.  Holt’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Fox Business, Bloomberg.com, Time.com, The Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed. Before New America, Alex studied and lived in Amman, Jordan. He graduated from The George Washington University with a B.A. in political communication.

Expertise:

  • Federal Education Budget
  • Pre-K Education

Direct Contact

To contact this person directly, use the information below.

Alex Holt
Policy Analyst, Education Policy Program
holt@newamerica.net

Featured Publications

Publications

  • policy paper | December 17, 2014 |

    The Case for Payroll Withholding

    Preventing Student Loan Defaults with Automatic Income-Based Repayment

    A new paper, The Case for Payroll Withholding, co-authored by New America, Young Invincibles, and the National Association of Student Financial Aid...
  • in the news | September 16, 2014 | Education Policy

    States Far From Uniform in Commitment to Kindergarten

    While high-quality preschool tops the agenda for many federal, state, and local officials, kindergarten—widely considered the first year of formal ...
  • policy paper | August 06, 2014 |

    Zero Marginal Cost

    The New America Foundation’s Education Policy Program today released a new higher education policy brief, “Zero Marginal Cost,” investigating the c...
  • policy paper | August 06, 2014 |

    Making the Hours Count

    With growing public interest in how states and localities provide access to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, policymakers are increasingly being ...