Sep 19 First weeks of college life can be deadly for some freshmen By Jake New, Inside Higher Ed At least eight freshmen at U.S. colleges have died in the first few weeks of this school year. The deaths have cast a shadow over the campuses on which the students spent too little time, but they’re also a cross-section… Continue reading
Sep 11 The U.S. gov. wants you to get the most from your college investment By Kyla Calvert Mason This summer, the PBS NewsHour’s Rethinking College series explored the changing landscape of American higher education. Recently, Ted Mitchell, under secretary of education, sat down with the NewsHour to talk about the recent push for experimentation with competency-based college… Continue reading
Sep 10 Gov. report shows seniors owe $18 billion in student loan debt By Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Rosemary Anderson could be 81 by the time she pays off her student loans. After struggling with divorce, health problems and an underwater home mortgage, the 57-year-old anticipates there could come a day when her Social Security benefits… Continue reading
Sep 04 Watch Can a cell phone video get your kid into college? By PBS News Hour Colleges and universities are getting increasingly creative with their admissions essay prompts, but a small liberal arts college has set a new precedent. In lieu of recommendation letters, extracurricular activities and test scores, Goucher College in Maryland will accept a… Continue watching
Sep 04 Forget essays, grades, Goucher College to accept video-only applications By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed Can an applicant explain why he or she would thrive at a given college in two minutes? If the applicant wants to enroll at Goucher College, that is pretty much all it will take under a new admissions option being… Continue reading
Sep 01 Watch Summer school motivates college dreams for middle school students By PBS News Hour In St. Paul, Minnesota, students are dancing their way to class -- literally -- in the middle of the summer. This is Breakthrough, an innovative summer program with the sole focus of inspiring low-income, under-resourced middle school students to go… Continue watching
Aug 29 Twitter Chat: Should colleges be run more like businesses? By Nora Daly Few doubt that higher education must adapt to meet the changing needs of students and society. Is a more business-like approach the answer?… Continue reading
Aug 29 Why the backlash against adjuncts is an indictment of the tenure system By Denise Cummins Psychologist Denise Cummins, who has held faculty and research positions at Yale and the University of Illinois, draws upon her own career to argue that tenure is a meaningless distinction between the accomplishments of adjuncts and full-time professors. Continue reading
Aug 29 As student bodies get more diverse, colleges rethink services By Kyla Calvert Mason The demographics of the country's college students are changing. The percentage of black, Latino and Asian students is growing. As students and their needs change, colleges and universities will have to respond. Continue reading
Aug 29 Can universities be embarrassed into raising graduation rates? By Jon Marcus, The Hechinger Report Indiana is ahead of many other states in widely broadcasting public universities’ and colleges’ success rates as part of an attempt to force rates up. Continue reading