"Institutions that are already discounting for most students have a reasonable opportunity to cut their sticker prices without actually diminishing their net revenues, " said SandyBaum, a senior fellow at George Washington University School of Education.
SandyBaum, an economist at Skidmore College whose research laid the groundwork for the proposed rules, said the department's regulations set the bar very low but the judge had created an impossible threshold because "there is no one right measure, " she said.
"It doesn't help the long-term problem (of rising tuition) and the hope is this will buy time to think carefully about how to make sure that all students can get the federal loans that they need on good terms, " said SandyBaum, an independent policy analyst for the College Board.