Higher Education

In 2004 some colleges are tried, again, to crack down on grade inflation, the increase in the GPA of students at American over time, without any change in standards. But the effort only really took at Princeton University, which dramatically decreased the amount of A’s it awarded. Now it’s starting to hurt. According to an […]

Diploma mills, like gangs and credit card scams, are troublesome precisely because they’re hard to define. According to an an article at Inside Higher Ed, legislators are trying to shut down the fake schools: The bill, sponsored by Reps. Timothy Bishop (D-N.Y.) and Michael Castle (R-Del.), would (1) cement in federal law definitions of “diploma […]

The battle over same sex marriage extends in an odd way to Syracuse University. According to an article in the Post-Standard: A report from Chancellor Nancy Cantor recommends the university extend the benefits to “opposite-sex domestic partners of employees” as part of a broader change in employee benefits. The benefits would cost SU about $600,000 […]

This surprised me. Apparently about 1 in 5, or 20 percent, of Americans who earned PhDs in 2008 also attended a community college at some point in their education. Chart, which also breaks down the numbers by ethnicity, at at the Chronicle of Higher Education.

College Guide earlier reported on Obama’s plan to move all federal student loans to a direct distribution system. Many colleges, and many banks, were opposed to the direct lending proposal. Well they’re coming around. According to an article in Inside Higher Ed: The Education Department reported this week that 96 percent of colleges had taken […]

At least in part because of Obama’s American Graduation Initiative, the higher education community now understands that community colleges are important. It’s a little unclear what community colleges should actually do to be a force for good in the economy and in education, however. Well, from Diverse Issues in Higher Education comes news that experts […]

Craven Community College has removed a picture from its public areas because it features a popular professor smoking a cigar. According to an article in the New Bern Sun-Journal: Students in Craven Community College’s auto body program airbrushed the hood of a 1982 Mercury Capri drag racing car with a portrait of automotive instructor Robert […]

Earlier this month the College Guide reported on Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s controversial proposal to save money by consolidating his state’s public, historically black schools. Many students, alumni, and administrators at the schools, Alcorn State University, Jackson State University, and Mississippi Valley State University, oppose the move. They say it unfairly targets black students. Well […]

Some students take four years to finish college. Some take about six. Some never complete a degree. And then there’s the case of Harriet Richardson Ames, a retired New Hampshire schoolteacher. Ames earned her bachelor’s degree some 81 years after she started college. According to an article in the Washington Post: Ames, who turned 100 […]

In terms of college, as Inside Higher Ed put it “Thanks to leaks in the days leading up to it, there were virtually no surprises in President Obama’s State of the Union speech last night.” One thing I noticed, however, was that in the section of the speech about student loans where Obama urged the […]