Wil Del Pilar, Ph.D., serves as Ed Trust’s Senior Vice President. In this role, Wil spearheads Ed Trust’s mission to highlight inequities and outline solutions in order to improve access, success, affordability, and completion in higher education for low-income students and students of color.
Prior to joining Ed Trust, Wil served in Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s administration as deputy secretary of postsecondary and higher education, where he developed and implemented the state’s strategic vision for higher education. Before joining Governor Wolf’s team, Wil had experience in the Pennsylvania Department of Education, working as an executive assistant in the state’s higher education office. In this role, he managed an array of services for the state, including the College Access Challenge Grant and the Pennsylvania Information Management System.
Aside from working for Pennsylvania’s Department of Education in higher education policy roles, Wil has held senior development positions, as the director of development at Pennsylvania State University and at the University of Florida’s Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars Program. In both positions, he fought to secure funding to support access and success initiatives for historically underrepresented students.
In addition to his policy and development experience, Wil has a wealth of institutional experience, working in admissions at Chapman University in Orange, California, and the University of California Santa Cruz, as a financial aid counselor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and as a research assistant at Penn State.
Wil holds a doctorate in higher education/higher education administration from The Pennsylvania State University, a master’s degree from California State University-Dominguez Hills, and a bachelor’s degree from Chapman University.
Author Archives
A Policy Roadmap That Steers Students of Color to Success, From Pre-K Through College
A new framework that could evolve P-16 policies and practices for students of color without relying on affirmative action.
Segregation Forever: Private Universities Haven’t Leveraged Race-Conscious Admissions to Increase Diversity. What Now?
The Supreme Court has banned the use of race-conscious practices in college admissions. However, enrollment at selective public institutions and selective private institutions has never reflected the diversity of states…
A Brief History of Affirmative Action and the Assault on Race-Conscious Admissions
As we await the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College and Students for Fair Admission v. University of North Carolina challenging the use of…
SCOTUS Hears Cases on Student Debt Cancellation. What Does it All Mean?
On February 28, the Supreme Court heard arguments on two cases that have been holding up student debt cancellation for the 26 million people who applied. The first, Biden v.…
The Education Trust Comments to U.S. Department of Education on Eligibility of Students for Relief Funds Under the CARES Act
Gaby Watts U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 258-02 Washington, D.C. 20202-2241 Download the Letter RE: Comments on Eligibility of Students at Institutions of Higher Education for…
Crushed Dreams and Broken Promises, Supreme Court Edition
On June 18, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States handed a victory to Dreamers, blocking the Trump administration’s latest attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals…
Trump Vetoes Measure to Restore Student Loan Borrower Rights
WASHINGTON (June 1, 2020) – Today, Wil Del Pilar, vice president for higher education at The Education Trust, issued the following statement: “President Trump’s decision to veto a bipartisan congressional…
Crushed Dreams and Broken Promises, COVID-19 Edition
The recently released Coronavirus Aid, Relief, Economic Stimulus (CARES) Act allocated more than $6 billion in aid to institutions to give to students via emergency grants that can be used…
Thoughts From a Former College Admission Officer in the COVID-19 Era
Amidst increased anxiety over a global pandemic, parents and students alike are frantically adjusting to the new reality of school shutdowns, online learning, cancellation of standardized tests, library closings, the…
Congress Should Advance Bipartisan Higher Education Senate Deal
Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Patty Murray, with other bipartisan partners, agree to fund HBCUs for ten years, simplify the FAFSA, and streamline loan repayment WASHINGTON (December 4, 2019) –…
College Affordability Act Would Advance Higher Education Opportunity and Improve Outcomes
The full House should take up this comprehensive Higher Education Act reauthorization ASAP WASHINGTON (October 31, 2019) – Today, Wil Del Pilar, vice president of higher education at The Education…
Ed Trust Welcomes Comprehensive Higher Education Proposal from House Democrats
College Affordability Act advances long-overdue conversation on higher education reforms WASHINGTON (October 15, 2019) – Wil Del Pilar, vice president of higher education at The Education Trust, issued the following…
The Education Trust Calls on Senate to Continue Bipartisan HEA Process and Pass the FUTURE Act
If signed into law, the FUTURE Act would ensure continued federal funding for historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions WASHINGTON (September 26, 2019) – Today, Wil Del Pilar,…
Americans Are Split on College Costs and Who Should Pay
This is a repost from New America’s EdCentral Policy Blog. You can find the original post here. New America recently released its third annual Varying Degrees survey, which examines Americans’…
Trump Administration Props Up Predatory For-Profit Colleges at Expense of Students With “Borrower Defense to Repayment” Final Rule
Statement From Wil Del Pilar, Vice President for Higher Education, on the Trump Administration’s Borrower Defense to Repayment Final Rule Washington (August 30, 2019) – Today, Wil Del Pilar, vice…
Where Are the Black Basketball Coaches?
The NCAA has a new men’s and women’s basketball champion. Congratulations to University of Virginia and Baylor University. In the last days of the tournament, however, I was most struck…
Can Undocumented Students Access Free College Programs?
In Ed Trust’s recent report, A Promise Fulfilled: A Framework for Equitable Free College Programs, we provide a policy framework for designing free college policies that benefit students who struggle…
Degree Attainment for Native American Adults
In two previous briefs, we examined the degree attainment of Black and Latino adults, where we found a 17 percentage point gap in degree attainment between Black adults and White…
University Enrollment in Puerto Rico Prior to Hurricane Maria: Lessons from Katrina
With mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension, I arrived in Puerto Rico this summer — excited to see family and friends and relax on the beach; nervous about witnessing firsthand…
Introducing Higher Education Equity Lens – A Blog for Higher Ed Wonks
Today, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new blog, Higher Ed Equity Lens, to share in-depth analysis and fresh takes at the intersection of race, class, and…
The Education Trust’s Comments on Proposed Roll Back of Borrower’s Defense Protections
The Honorable Betsy DeVos Secretary of Education U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Ave. SW Washington, DC 20202 Re: Docket ID ED-2018-OPE-0027-0001 Download Our Full Comments Dear Secretary DeVos: On…
3 Ways States Can Improve Degree Attainment for Blacks and Latinos
In the U.S., if you are Black, you are two-thirds as likely to hold a college degree as someone who is White; if you are Latino, you are half as…
HEA: Equity Must Be At the Core of the Higher Education Act
At The Education Trust, we believe equity must be at the core of any accountability policy. So, as Congress works to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, we will work to…
The PROSPER Act Would Move Our Nation’s Higher Education System Backward
A bill proposed last week by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) to renew the Higher Education Act (HEA) undermines its historical role in advancing civil rights and falls far short of…
The Dream Act: Lifting Limitations on Students’ Unlimited Potential
Nearly two months have passed since the Trump administration announced plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) and called on Congress to act to protect undocumented…
On Charlottesville: Race Matters, But Facts Do Too
Deadly protests this weekend by torch-carrying White nationalists at the University of Virginia and in the city of Charlottesville, Va., serve as a terrible reminder to us all just how…