James Richard Kvaal is an American attorney and education policy advisor who is the current under secretary of education in the Biden administration. Kvaal previously served in the United States Department of Education and White House Office during the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

Education

Kvaal earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in public policy from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1996 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 2007.

Career

Before law school, Kvaal was a policy adviser in the administration of President Bill Clinton. During the first three years of the Obama administration, he was special assistant for economic policy and deputy undersecretary of education. After working for the Obama 2012 presidential campaign, he served as deputy policy director of the United States Domestic Policy Council in 2016. Kvaal was responsible for developing a federal college ratings system, which ultimately became the College Scorecard. Early in the administration, Kvaal worked to increase Pell Grants and access to financial aid for college and job training. Kvaal also worked to provide financial relief for students at for-profit institutions. During the Obama administration, Kvaal worked to establish a plan for free community college, announced in 2015. Kvaal traveled the country to promote the plan and to encourage state and local governments to adopt their own versions. In 2017, he became president of the Institute for College Access and Success, where he continued working to hold colleges accountable, make student debt manageable. On February 17, 2021, Kvaal was announced as the nominee to serve as under secretary of education in the Biden administration. At his confirmation hearing in April 2021, senators raised a number of topics, including student debt, tuition, college football, and oversight of for-profit colleges. Kvaal received bipartisan support from the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, but his confirmation vote on the senate floor was delayed due to an objection from Senator Elizabeth Warren, which she eventually withdrew. The Senate invoked cloture on Kvaal's nomination on September 13, 2021 in a 55-37 vote. The Senate confirmed Kvaal's nomination on September 14, 2021 in a 58-37 vote.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kvaal, James Biden administration personnel Harvard Law School alumni Living people Obama administration personnel Stanford University alumni United States Department of Education officials Year of birth missing (living people)