Higher Education

From the Chronicle of Higher Education comes news that students who attend for-profit schools are doing okay: Students who attend for-profit colleges have comparable and often higher retention and graduation rates than those at other institutions, according to the findings of a study released on Wednesday. The study concluded that at the two-year level, career […]

Arizona State Senator Jack Harper, a longtime gun advocate, has sponsored a new bill to allow professors to carry concealed firearms on campus. According to an article in the Arizona Republic: Harper said an Arizona university professor, who feels like staff are “sitting ducks” on campus, brought the issue to him. He said his intention […]

In the latest news from the department of academic budget gimmicks, the Missoulian reports that: The possibility of a four-day work week stirred commotion – and emotion – on the University of Montana campus Tuesday, one day after President George Dennison announced ways the university may respond to predicted shortfalls in state and federal revenue. […]

According to an article in Inside Higher Ed, 2008 online enrollments were up 17 percent from a year before. More than 4.5 million people took at least one online class. This was not merely reflective of growth in the popularity of online universities. Much of the increase occurred from traditional colleges offering online courses. Not […]

One of the odd things about policymaking in a deep recession is that it encourages politicians to think in terms of Get Solvent Quick budgeting gimmicks. There’s the college tuition freeze. There’s President Obama’s budget freeze. And then there is the state of California, where earlier this month Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed amending the state […]

As far as higher education’s financing goes, the Obama administration’s proposed three-year budget “freeze” (scare quote explanation here) probably won’t have much impact. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that: Obama-administration officials…,said… that the restriction would not affect Pell Grants and largely would spare other education programs. “Pell Grants will be taken care of within […]

One good way to rise in the university rankings is for a school to become more selective. That is, have a greater applicant pool to reject. But how can a school become more attractive? It could develop a big sports program. It could create many highly specialized graduate programs. Or the college could engage in […]

In the turmoil surrounding the hefty tuition increase at the University of California, opponents of the price hike often cast the university’s board of regents as villains. But now some regents are trying to change that perception. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle: When students hold their big Day of Action in […]

Earlier this month the Education Trust released a paper arguing that most of America’s public colleges and universities were failing in their mission to educate needy students. The University of Virginia begs to differ. UVA thinks it’s doing better than Ed Trust does. According to an article in C-VILLE Weekly, the Ed Trust data comes […]

According to an article in the Washington Post, the gender gap in undergraduate education is no longer growing: More men are attending college and graduating with a bachelor’s degree, reversing the tendency of female undergraduates to outnumber men and outperform them academically, according to a new report out Tuesday. The report, by the American Council […]