Katherine Valle is a research analyst at the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), where she manages projects on the history of financial aid and issues of access faced by 21^st–century college students. Valle’s research interests also include federal and state investment in higher education, federal regulation on for-profit institutions, the viability of Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and the overall success of underserved student populations.

Prior to joining IHEP, Valle was the associate director of policy research at the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, an independent federal committee that advises Congress on student financial-aid policy. She tracked federal legislative and regulatory proposals and provided technical expertise to Congress on financial aid reforms. Valle also served in the Peace Corps where she worked in the Dominican Republic to increase computer literacy by creating sustainable computer academies and implementing teacher trainings in a rural community. During her service, Valle also worked with the Dominican Office of the First Lady on education technology policy and with non-governmental organizations on developing a national literacy program.

Valle holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology from the University of Florida. She also holds a master’s in public policy and a master’s of art in higher education from the University of Michigan.  During graduate school, she interned at the U.S. Department of Education, the White House Domestic Policy Council, the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good, and The Education Trust.