Jeff Appel, Deputy Under Secretary of Education

Jeff Appel is Deputy Under Secretary of Education at the US Department of Education. As Deputy Under Secretary, Jeff oversees postsecondary student aid policy initiatives that align the efforts of Federal Student Aid, the Office of Postsecondary Education, and the Office of Vocational and Adult Education.

Jeff first joined the Department in 2011 as a Senior Policy Advisor for Higher Education and Student Financial Aid in the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development. From 2007 to 2011, Jeff worked for Congressman George Miller as a Senior Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee on Education and Labor, where he led numerous student aid and higher education policy efforts that guided legislation for the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, the 2008 Higher Education Act reauthorization, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Prior to working for the House Education and Labor Committee, Jeff was an Assistant Director at the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Education, Workforce, and Income Security group, responsible for managing much of the GAO’s research concerning student aid and other postsecondary education issues. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Finance from the University of Arizona and a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University.