Casey McCoy-Simmons joined SHEEO in May 2022 as a state policy intern, where she works on the state higher education finance (SHEF) project, SHEEO’s tuition, fees, and financial assistance survey, and the creation of several issue briefs on higher education affordability and finance. Prior to her role at SHEEO, Casey was an education and policy research intern at the Colorado Department of Higher Education and continues in her role as a graduate fellow for Whiteboard Advisors. She is a Ph.D. student in higher education at the University of Denver with research interests in equity, student success, and college affordability. Casey’s current research focuses on state policy discourses and open educational resources (OER).