Higher Education

One of the more disturbing aspects of higher education pricing in the last decade or so is the proliferation of student debt. But even when one files for bankruptcy, student loans stick around. This may change. Today, with United Student Aid Funds Inc. v. Espinosa, the U.S. Supreme court is looking at bankruptcy rules for […]

Getting a significant proportion of ethnic minorities into college, and out with degrees, will have a dramatic effect on alleviating racial economic disparities in the U.S. This has long been a staple of any argument about race and education in the US. It turns out that the truth is more complicated. With the latest economic […]

Call the affiliated class Rent Seeking 101. Facing gigantic pension obligations for retired city employees that Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania cannot afford, the city is getting creative. The mayor has announced plans to create a 1 percent tax on college tuition as part of his 2010 city budget. From an article in USA Today: The city is […]

The College Guide has written a lot of stories lately about the increasing cost of California’s public colleges. But a recent article in Inside Higher Ed demonstrates pretty well why this matters so much. It is not just that the University of California will now cost $3,000 a year more to attend; no, the real […]

Tuition increases are frustrating, financially burdensome, and perhaps unfair. But are they a violation of human rights? From Inside Higher Ed: The student union of the University of British Columbia has filed a complaint with the United Nations, seeking to have it declare that tuition increases in Canada violate the country’s commitment to the International […]

Schools in Maryland may have elected to create a selective component of community colleges, but Nevada is the process of deciding whether or not it is a good idea to simply limit the number of students attending community colleges. Daniel Klaich , the chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education, thinks it might be […]

Community college is now for everyone. Or at least it is for more students than it used to be. According to an article in the Washington Post: Increasing number of high school graduates… pass over top-drawer public and private universities to become honor students at community colleges. Recession-wary students are flocking to selective two-year programs, […]

There’s another college guide in the works. The Washington Times reports that: WhatWillThey Learn.com is an alternative college guide that challenges much of the standard wisdom used for ranking colleges and universities. It was launched recently by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) to address the widespread erosion of rigorous general education requirements. […]

According to an Associated Press article, for-profit colleges are making a killing off of federal financial aid: Last year, the five institutions that received the most federal Pell Grant dollars were all for-profit colleges, collecting over $1 billion among them. That was two and a half times what those schools hauled in just two years […]

Historically, many colleges used difficult courses to weed students out of college or out of challenging majors. The wisdom of this tactic is now debatable. It is certain courses—specifically the hard sciences and math—that prevent students from completing college. Now, with a grant from the Lumina Foundation, Maryland is looking to change that. According to […]