Edward Conroy

Eddy Conroy is a senior advisor with the Education Policy program at New America. Dr. Conroy's work focuses on research and advocacy that improve regulatory and legislative policies, including financial aid and higher education funding, and student basic needs issues that improve student outcomes.

His subject matter expertise has been cited in media outlets such as the New York Times, ProPublica, CNBC, Inside Higher Ed, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Previously at The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, he used research and evidence to improve higher education policy and practice as associate director of institutional transformation; he also served as associate director of research communications and senior practitioner researcher. He worked for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, where he created and ran its first proactive communications plan, managed outreach programs, and worked with the Economic Crisis Response Team to help support students. Eddy was also a financial aid counselor at Vanguard University of Southern California.

Eddy is fortunate to have attended tuition-free public institutions in Scotland, where he received a master’s in political science and an EdD from the University of Glasgow. Eddy’s doctoral work focused on how financial aid staff members are forced to take a compliance approach because of federal regulations and it considered ways that they can be encouraged to take more of a student advocacy-based approach.