Annie Waldman

Reporter

Photo of Annie Waldman

Annie Waldman is a reporter at ProPublica covering health care. A piece she published with The New York Times on a New Jersey student debt agency prompted a new law and several new bills, aimed at increasing consumer protections for student borrowers and their families. Following her reporting on the largest accreditor of for-profit colleges, the U.S. Department of Education stripped the agency of its powers. Her reporting with Erica Green of The New York Times led to a federal civil rights investigation of discrimination against Native American students on a reservation in Montana.

In 2018, she contributed to the “Lost Mothers” series, which investigated the high rate of maternal mortality in the United States. This series won the 2018 Goldsmith Prize for investigative reporting, received a George Polk Award, a Peabody and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for explanatory reporting. Following her reporting on maternal mortality in New York, the city launched a $12.8 million initiative to reduce maternal deaths and complications among women of color.

She graduated with honors from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia, where she was the recipient of the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship and the Brown Institute Computational Journalism Award. Her stories have been published in The New York Times, the Atlantic, Vice, BBC News, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Consumer Reports.

She has been a finalist twice and won two awards from the Education Writers Association for her education reporting. She has won an award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and was a finalist for the Loeb Awards for her reporting with Paul Kiel and Al Shaw on the racial disparity of wage garnishment.

Prior to joining ProPublica, she was a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Israel, where she reported on the plight of refugees from Darfur and Eritrea. She was also a recipient of a residency at Cité International des Arts in Paris, France. She had a documentary film in the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, on the lives of homeless high school students after Hurricane Katrina, which was later broadcast nationally on PBS. She produced "Phantom Cowboys," a documentary about male adolescence in small industry towns, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018.

Her PGP Key ID is E8F41874.

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Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s pick as secretary of education, has funded groups that champion “intelligent design,” a sophisticated outgrowth of creationism. Science educators worry that she could use her bully pulpit to undermine the teaching of evolution in public schools.

States Move to Intervene in Federal Case on For-profit College Watchdog

Attorneys general file motion to intervene in education case, signaling a larger effort by states to protect Obama-era policies.

New Jersey Will No Longer Collect Loans From Families of Dead Students

After a ProPublica and New York Times investigation into New Jersey’s student loan program, Gov. Chris Christie stayed silent. On Monday, he signed a reform bill ending its most onerous practice.

New Jersey Lawmakers Vote to Forgive Dead Students’ Loans

A bill ending the state loan agency’s practice of seeking repayment from the families of deceased students now heads to Gov. Chris Christie.

New Jersey’s Student Loan Agency Has Started Getting Good Reviews — By Giving Free Stuff

The agency, which promotes loans with onerous terms, is giving out flash drives for online reviews.

New Jersey Legislators Move to Reform Aggressive Student Loan Program

The move is the latest action to rein in the agency, whose loans have left families financially ruined.

New Jersey Senate Examines Controversial Student Loan Agency

Executives from student loan agency are no-shows at oversight hearing.

Lawmakers to Question Executive of New Jersey’s Controversial Student Loan Agency

A ProPublica and New York Times investigation has prompted a state Senate hearing on aggressive collection practices by the state loan program.

New Jersey Student Loan Agency to Staff: Don’t Tell Borrowers About Help Unless They Ask

It’s yet another obstacle for borrowers from the country’s largest state-based college loan program.

New Jersey’s Student Loan Program is ‘State-Sanctioned Loan-Sharking’

The loans have extraordinarily stringent rules, aggressive collections and few reprieves, even for borrowers who’ve died. The head of the loan agency was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie.

Federal Committee Votes to Terminate Troubled College Accreditor

An Education Department advisory committee took the unprecedented step of calling on the government to revoke powers of for-profit college accreditor.

Education Department Recommends Killing Accreditor of For-profit Colleges

U.S. Education Department staff are moving to terminate the oversight authority of embattled for-profit college accreditor, ACICS, citing “egregious” mistakes.

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