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Victoria Jackson

Assistant Director of Higher Education Policy

Victoria Jackson is the assistant director of higher education policy at Ed Trust, where she leads work on college affordability and student debt.

Prior to this role, Victoria worked at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as a senior policy analyst on the state fiscal policy team. Her work focused on equitable state funding for higher education and K-12 education. Previously, Victoria was a senior policy analyst on Ed Trust’s higher education policy team, where she focused on federal and state college affordability policy and student debt. She also worked as a Researcher at Policy Matters Ohio after transiting from a position as a State Policy Fellow. At Policy Matters, Victoria worked on budget and tax policy related to K-12 and higher education and state and federal SNAP policy. While in graduate school, Jackson worked as a graduate assistant for the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and for the Ohio Department of Education. Before graduate school, she served as an AmeriCorps volunteer with College Now Greater Cleveland, doing college advising with high school students at two Cleveland Metropolitan School District high schools.

Victoria holds a master’s degree from The Ohio State University in public administration and a bachelor’s degree Pan-African Studies from Kent State University.

Favorite Sports Team
Cleveland Cavaliers

What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?
I enjoy relaxing with a good book.

Why are you passionate about working at Ed Trust?
I believe in education. However, because of structural inequality students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, and other marginalized students face barriers within and outside of education that limit access and negatively affect outcomes. Racist and classist policies are largely responsible for these inequities. Ed Trust works to improve education policy, so students of color and students from low-income backgrounds have equitable access, experiences, and outcomes in education.

Victoria Jackson

Author Archives

The Department of Education Is Under Attack. Student Borrowers Should Protect Themselves

March 05, 2025 by Victoria Jackson

The Trump administration is trying to dismantle the Department of Education. Borrowers should act now to safeguard their student loan data

5 Ways the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan Can Help Student Loan Borrowers

July 17, 2023 by Victoria Jackson

Last week, the Biden administration announced that 804,000 borrowers will have over $39 million in federal student debt cancelled as a result of the income-driven repayment (IDR) plan account adjustment.…

Parent PLUS Loans Are a Double-Edged Sword for Black Borrowers

June 07, 2023 by Victoria Jackson, Brittani Williams, Jalil B. Mustaffa, Ph.D.

Approximately 43 million Americans collectively owe $1.5 trillion in federal student loan debt, but students aren’t the only ones…

Income-Driven Repayment Plans Fail Black Borrowers

November 16, 2022 by Victoria Jackson, Jalil B. Mustaffa, Ph.D.

Approximately 43 million Americans collectively owe $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt, but this debt is not borne…

How Student Debt Harms Black Borrowers’ Mental Health

July 28, 2022 by Victoria Jackson, Jalil B. Mustaffa, Ph.D.

Approximately 45 million Americans carry $1.7 trillion in student loan debt, but the financial challenges facing Black borrowers are…

How Black Women Experience Student Debt

April 07, 2022 by Victoria Jackson, Brittani Williams

Forty-five million Americans collectively owe $1.7 trillion in student loan debt, and women hold nearly two-thirds of it. But…

A Promise Worth Keeping

October 21, 2020 by Tiffany Jones, Jaime Ramirez-Mendoza, Victoria Jackson

Free college programs have been around for some time, but they have proliferated in recent years, prompted by rising…

The ‘Black Tax’ Is Key to Understanding and Solving the Black Student Debt Crisis in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond

April 16, 2020 by Victoria Jackson, Tiffany Jones

It’s no secret that Black people must work harder and pay more to receive the same benefits and opportunity as their White or non-Black peers. This phenomenon is commonly known…