Tiffany Jones

Tiffany directs the higher education policy team at The Education Trust, where she promotes legislation to improve access, affordability, and success for low-income students and students of color. Central to this work is supporting equity- and student-centered accountability and affordability policies at the state and federal levels.
Tiffany and her team design and promote policy to make higher education more affordable, hold colleges accountable, and invest in student success. Tiffany advises federal and state policy makers, convenes national working groups of civil rights and ed reform advocates, and supports emerging equity coalitions in several states. Dr. Jones has published for public, policy, and academic audiences her recommendations on how higher education policy and practices impact college success for low-income students and students of color. Her work has been featured in places like the New York Times, CNN, and NPR, and in her book, Can equity be bought? Outcomes Based Funding for Racial Equity, she introduces a framework for prioritizing equity issues in higher education accountability systems. Other recent publications include A Guide to Statewide Attainment Goals for Racial Equity Advocates, A Framework for Equitable Free College Programs, and Outcomes-Based Funding and Race in Higher Education.

Before joining Ed Trust, Tiffany led the higher ed work at the Southern Education Foundation, where she partnered with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions to advance student success and engage in analysis of federal and state policies (such as performance- and outcomes-based funding) using an equity lens. Prior to her time at SEF, Jones was a dean’s fellow at the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, where she helped advance the equity scorecard in Minority-Serving Institutions and urban high schools.

A Michigan native, Tiffany holds a Ph.D. in Urban Education Policy from the University of Southern California, a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a bachelor’s degree in Family Studies and English from Central Michigan University.