An Educated Guest
An Educated Guest is a podcast that dives deep into the innovations and trends shaping the future of education. The host is Todd Zipper who has over two decades as an entrepreneur, executive, and investor across K-12, Higher Education, and Workforce Development. He brings together visionaries, innovators, and operators from the education industry to explore the solutions that are transforming learning and work.
An Educated Guest
Latest Episodes
Ep. 82 | A Conversation with Author Anya Kamenetz on High-Stakes Tests, Student Debt, Generational Justice, Screen-Time and More
What happens when the traditional promises of higher education, standardized testing, and steady middle-class milestones no longer align with reality? In this episode of An Educated Guest, host Todd Zipper sits down with acclaimed auth...
Ep. 81 | Unpacking Financial Aid: Shifting from the Back Office to Strategic Driver with Robert Heil of FAS
For decades, colleges and universities have treated the financial aid office as a dense, back-office administrative function—a labyrinth of tax-code-like regulations to be managed out of sight. But as higher education faces a stark demographic ...
Ep.80 | Jane Swift on Mending the Broken College-to-Career Pipeline: Why Paid Internships are the New Hardest Application in America's Workforce
When it comes to the path from education to financial security, the "golden ticket" narrative we grew up with is showing significant cracks. Today, students who work hard and play by the rules find themselves facing a steep experiential paradox...
Ep.79 | From Correspondence School to Workforce Training Powerhouse with Kermit Cook, CEO of Penn Foster
What does the future of the American workforce look like when you bypass the traditional four-year college track entirely? In this episode of An Educated Guest, we sit down with Kermit Cook, the CEO of Penn Foster, to exp...
Ep.78 | The Earn-and-Learn Revolution: Can Apprenticeships Save the Entry-Level Worker from AI?
As the 2026 labor market faces an enrollment cliff and a massive influx of AI automation hollowing out traditional white-collar entry-level work, the "what is college for" debate has reached a fever pitch. Students are increasingly wary of high...