Education

The House voted yesterday 253 to 171 to pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. The press release from the House Education and Labor Committee is here; Chairman Miller’s prepared remarks are here.

We write a lot about inefficiencies in the higher education system on this blog. It’s kinda the point. But I was still unprepared to learn that in 2007 there were 139 colleges with six-year graduation rates below 10 percent.

Yesterday morning Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor committee, hosted a blogger breakfast. Education Sector’s Ben Miller was there, and on The Quick and the Ed he reports: An especially interesting theme that came up throughout the discussion was taking a closer look at institutions of higher education—especially how they […]

You should read Dan Lips’ argument against certain aspects of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, particularly the ending of the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program. I mostly disagree with the piece, and am particularly mystified by Lips’ contention that the profit motive leads to bureaucratic efficiency and low overhead costs […]

The Chronicle has an interview with Deborah M. DiCroce, president of Tidewater Community College, on the impact “enrollment gains and unprecedented national attention” are having on community college. It’s worth a listen, as this is a storyline that’s only going to get more important as the long-term effects of the economic downturn become clearer.

The Chronicle reports that the “student body on American college campuses will continue to become more racially diverse, older, and more female over the next decade, according to new projections from the U.S. Department of Education.” The report containing the projections is here (PDF).

I’m starting to feel like a broken record here, but some more depressing higher-ed-related economic news is out this week. From Diverse Issues in Higher Education: In another sign of the recession’s impact on higher education, the federal government Monday said student loan default rates are up significantly as more borrowers report difficulty repaying the […]

Exciting news from Inside Higher Ed: On Monday, five leading universities announced a new “Compact for Open Access Publishing Equity” in which they have pledged to develop systems to pay open access journals for the articles they publish by the institutions’ scholars. In doing so, the institutions are attempting to put to rest the idea […]

The chart Michael Mandel posted here is indeed, as the author put it, “appalling.” It’s also depressing. As is the first comment posted, from “Brenda”: Yes, this is appalling on several counts. I have my Masters degree in Education and am having difficulty getting more than $10 per hour. People won’t hire me because I […]

From The Chronicle: Winston-Salem State University has abandoned its campaign to become an active member of the NCAA’s Division I, electing to remain in Division II for financial reasons. The unusual announcement came late Friday following a special meeting of the historically black college’s Board of Trustees. In a unanimous vote, the board closed the […]