Marian Wang was a reporter for ProPublica, covering education and college debt. She joined ProPublica in 2010, first blogging about a variety of accountability issues. Her later stories focused on how rising college costs and the complexity of the student loan system affect students and their families. Prior to coming to ProPublica, she worked at Mother Jones magazine in San Francisco and freelanced for a number of Chicago-based publications, including The Chicago Reporter, an investigative magazine focused on issues of race and poverty.
Marian Wang
Reporter
Georgia is Segregating Troublesome Kids in Schools Used During Jim Crow
A Department of Justice investigation found that Georgia is giving thousands of kids with behavioral issues a subpar education and putting them in the same run-down buildings that served black children decades ago.
NYC Public Housing: Fixing a Leak with a Bucket
The New York City Housing Authority, the country's largest public housing agency, says it’s made major progress responding to residents’ requests for repairs. Residents tell a different story.
When a Wildlife Rehab Center Regulates Charter Schools: Inside the Wild World of Charter Regulation
Charter school “authorizers” are charged with making sure schools can be trusted with kids and with public money. Problem is, many lack the tools to do the job.
NY State Official Raises Alarm on Charter Schools — And Gets Ignored
A top official in the New York State Comptroller's Office has urged regulators to require more transparency on charter-school finances. The response has been, well, nonexistent.
When Charter Schools Are Nonprofit in Name Only
Some charters pass along nearly all their money to for-profit companies hired to manage the schools. It's an arrangement that's raising eyebrows.
Charter School Chain Finally Discloses Salaries — With One Missing
It's the latest round in a fight between North Carolina regulators and a charter-school power broker who has tried to keep the financial details of his companies secret.
North Carolina Tells Charter-School Chain It Can't Keep Administrator Salaries Secret
The schools' management company, which receives millions in public funds each year from the schools, says that the salaries paid to school administrators should be considered a trade secret.
Charter School Power Broker Turns Public Education Into Private Profits
Baker Mitchell is a politically connected North Carolina businessman who celebrates the power of the free market. Every year, millions of public education dollars flow through Mitchell’s chain of four nonprofit charter schools to for-profit companies he controls.
Q&A: Elizabeth Warren on Spiraling Student Debt and What Should Be Done About It
The professor-turned-lawmaker talks about why people should care and what Congress should be doing to help ease the burden on borrowers.
As Parents Struggle to Repay College Loans for Their Children, Taxpayers Also Stand to Lose
New Department of Education data shows rising default rates on federal loans to parents.
How Exactly Do Colleges Allocate Their Financial Aid? They Won’t Say.
Universities rarely release the specific criteria behind their aid decisions. Could a little-known regulation help open the black box?
How College Pricing Is Like Holiday Retail Sales
Those slashed retail prices that fueled your holiday shopping binges might be illusions. We explain why college pricing is similar – but even less transparent.
This Year’s Best Reporting on Education
We review some of 2013's best education-related accountability news.
After Years of Troubles, Largest Student-Loan Servicers Get Stepped-up Oversight
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced increased oversight of the companies that act as go-between for student borrowers and lenders.
On ‘Country Club’ Campuses: A Public University Ex-President Shares His Second Thoughts
He brought a sushi to campus dining halls and revamped the dorms. Why one former university president wonders whether he did the right thing.
George Washington University Has for Years Claimed to be 'Need-Blind.' It’s Not.
After years of repeatedly claiming to practice “need-blind” admissions, administrators at George Washington University now acknowledge that the school has long given an edge to wealthier students.
Breaking Away: Top Public Universities Push for ‘Autonomy’ From States
Many are worried that as public universities gain freedom, they will end up sidelining broader goals such as access and affordability.
Admissions Directors at Public Universities Speak Honestly (and Anonymously) About Their Goals
But a newly released survey by Inside Higher Ed of admissions directors underscored schools' strong interest in out-of-state students and international students, who typically pay higher tuition.
Public Universities Ramp Up Aid for the Wealthy, Leaving the Poor Behind
Chasing prestige and battered by state funding cuts, many public colleges and universities with a historic responsibility to provide access to an affordable education have turned to "financial aid leveraging," offering wealthy or high-scoring students discounts on tuition.
