Higher Education

The U.S. Department of Education is trying to move from current federal student loan practices to a direct loan system, which president Obama supports, whereby schools will lend directly to students, without the expensive middle man, the banks. Despite the fact that the bill probably will not happen this year Sallie Mae, one of the […]

According to an article in California’s Capitol Weekly, the Golden State plans to draft a new Master Plan for higher education Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, D-Redwood City, will convene the first hearing of The Joint Committee for Review of the Master Plan on Higher Education at the Capitol. The day-long session will include a good deal […]

Thanks to Kentucky’s new policy on higher education, students in the state’s public colleges are expected to take more remedial education courses. Tougher education policies now make it harder to enroll in credit-bearing college courses in Kentucky schools. This means that students cannot take courses for credit without first demonstrating certain math and reading skills. […]

So much for that free tuition. Last year the spectacularly expensive Harvard Law School promised free tuition for all third-year students who pledged to work in public service law for at least five years after graduation. Well no longer. The law school announced earlier this week that it was ending the program, called the Public […]

A report issued today by the Brookings Institution, Invisible: 1.4 Percent Coverage for Education is Not Enough (pdf) indicated that the press insufficiently covers education issues. Apparently in 2009 less than two percent of national news focused on education issues. According to the report, this dearth of coverage is upsetting because: Education is one of […]

It has long been a rumor that for-profit colleges deliberately admit more students than can succeed at these schools, but now a former SUNY academic dean alleges that this practice was also common at one college in New York’s state university system. According to an article in Inside Higher Ed about the lawsuit filed recently: […]

Last year, when everyone was predicting doomsday scenarios for the economy, many colleges worried they would not be able to get enough freshmen. But now that the economy is showing tentative signs of rebound, many schools worry they went too far. From U.S. News and World Report comes the surprising information that colleges now appear […]

The idea that colleges should operate like businesses is appealing. Business means efficiency and productivity. Maybe a little more of that might be just what colleges need, right? The Business of Higher Education is a new book that looks at this question. This is no simplistic Who Moved My Cheese? look at higher education. Rather, […]

There was supposed to be a new student lending bill this year. Remember that? The bill, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) of 2009 was supposed to improve the student loan industry and expand the federal Pell Grant program. According to an article in Education Week SAFRA was supposed to work like this: […]

The College Guide, and many other publications, recently ran pieces about Lincoln University’s plan to deny graduation to students who have not made concerted efforts to lose weight.While other colleges may be avoiding a policy so extreme/humiliating/potentially illegal, it now looks like obesity is fast becoming everyone’s worry. While only five percent of college students […]