International
Embracing the town and gown revolution | The myth of the ivory tower was shattered. The conference illustrated that there is no longer a zero-sum calculation between civic engagement and academic excellence. In fact, it was revealed that in the Global North the closer the co-operation and the better the understanding of the separated but connected roles of town and gown, the greater the rewards for both parties.
Diversity is key – in education and society | Although Ireland has a higher education participation rate, close to 65pc, under-representation of working class students in higher education persists, ranging from 15pc in Dublin 17 to 99pc in Dublin 6.
U.S. National
Higher Ed’s Biggest Pressure Cookers in 2019 | No one has figured out what is the new model for higher education. We continue to discount tuition at unsustainable levels, we continue to look for revenue that doesn’t really exist at the levels we need it to, and we refuse to cut costs. Until a university or college is willing to do something that is bold and different, financial sustainability is going to continue to be an issue.
International student tuition and the funding crisis to come | ncreasing reliance on international student tuition fees is the catalyst for transforming international higher education in the US from a diplomatic enterprise to the financial linchpin of strategic plans.
New Study Finds eLearning Has Widened Educational Access Gap | A new study suggests that despite all of its promises, online education may simply be expanding, not bridging, the educational access gap. “Does Online Education Live up to Its Promise?” isn’t the first study to cast doubts on online education’s purported benefits, but it is likely to fuel growing concerns, especially among politicians and policymakers.
Expectations Build for College Transparency Legislation | With Democrats in charge of the House education committee, supporters of a student-level data system hope to see progress in Congress on transparency for college outcomes.
U.S. States
The college bubble is starting to burst | Much of the long-term financial decay of our colleges can be attributed to their dependency on student loans. Most of the $3 trillion in loans issued to students so far has gone to colleges as free money. What became a burden for students became a bubble for colleges. Free money caused the number of colleges to double, enrollment to triple, and tuitions to soar — but not graduation rates.
Report: NJ’s higher education system disadvantages minority students | New Jersey could miss out, but I think the even deeper concern from my perspective is that inequity could worsen among races and among socioeconomic groups. You could have worsening inequity when it comes to economic status, but also that can fray the civic culture and we’re seeing that starting to have an effect on our political discourse.
Pritzker plans to conquer higher education struggle by targeting enrollment | The governor announced a threefold plan for Illinois education reform, targeting increasing college affordability, encouraging Illinois students to attend Illinois schools and supporting economic opportunity and innovation, according to Pritzker’s full higher education plan provided by email through Assistant Press Secretary Alex Hanns.
UMD students have mixed feelings about Gov. Hogan’s tax credit for student loan debt | While Gov. Larry Hogan announced Jan. 18 that the state’s Higher Education Commission will award $9 million in tax credits to over 9,000 students with debt from loans, that only covers a small portion of graduates in the state…Hogan also announced that he’s introduced the Student Debt Relief Act of 2019 — which would allow Marylanders to deduct the interest paid on their student loans from their income taxes — and will push to get it passed during the current legislative session.
Institutional
Underrepresented Students, Unintended Consequences | The studies assert that recent efforts by researchers and think tanks to rank colleges and universities on enrollment of low-income students, while well intentioned, have both unfairly judged some colleges’ performance and led institutions to alter who they enroll in ways that disadvantage some low-income students, even as they help others.
Duke U. Administrator Steps Down After Telling International Students to Speak English on Campus | On Friday, Megan Neely, who is also an assistant professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics, emailed students in the program to report that two faculty members had asked her for pictures to identify graduate students. She said the professors wanted to identify some students who were speaking Chinese in a student lounge area. “They were disappointed that these students were not taking the opportunity to improve their English and were being so impolite as to have a conversation that not everyone on the floor could understand,” she wrote. [Note: Why is this person identified as an administrator in the article title? Clearly, three faculty members at Duke University precipitated the discriminatory action.]
Endowment Returns Slow; Survey Offers Peek at Spending | Just under half of all spending from endowments goes to supporting student financial aid, according to data included for the first time in an annual survey of college and university endowments. Now the question is whether that’s high or low — and whether it provides any meaningful insight into colleges’ and universities’ priorities.
The Crisis-Industrial Complex | In fact, when senior student affairs professionals get together, we often feed the crisis-industrial complex. We see that happen when a staff member at one institution talks to a colleague at another one about the number of campus crises they’ve weathered in a given year and how heroically (or unheroically) they’ve responded. There probably was a time when having to deal with a multitude of crises felt (unnecessarily) shameful, but now people seem to wear the number of crises they have had to confront as a student affairs professional as a badge of honor.
Editorial: Current financial model points to impending crisis | William Guerrero, vice president of the Division of Finance and Administration, said he is working toward decreasing the percentage of student contribution in the college’s revenue, seeking to bring it down to the mid-80 percent range. He said a way to accomplish this is to diversify the college’s revenue because the other main sources are the endowment, which makes up 5 percent, and state and federal grants, which make up 1 to 3 percent each. By diversifying the college’s revenue, the college would eliminate some of its reliance on student tuition.