Nikole Hannah-Jones is an American investigative reporter known for her coverage of racial discrimination in schools. She has worked for the New York Times since 2015 and is well known for her work on the 1619 Project. In a September 2026 New York Times Magazine article, Ms. Hannah-Jones questioned the decision she and her husband […]
Read More… from Teaching Credentials Are Not Enough: What Schools Owe Their Students
It is not difficult to find an article about the looming financial crisis for small private colleges. Whether it’s the impact of the demographic cliff on enrollments, competition-induced tuition discounting, deferred capital maintenance, or a high fixed-cost structure, predictions of colleges in crisis abound. In December, I wrote about Daniel Greenstein’s analysis of 1,000-plus private […]
Read More… from Small Private Colleges in Maryland: The Impact of Scale and Selectivity
Consider a working adult who has completed college courses, earned an industry certification, supervised employees, and acquired technical skills on the job. How should that person demonstrate what they know and can do? Traditionally, that person has used a transcript to document the courses completed. A résumé can describe their employment history. Neither one connects […]
Read More… from Learning and Employment Records: What Will Turn Promise Into Widespread Use?
As I continue looking for research to support some of the premises in a book about the future of colleges in the age of artificial intelligence, I have been looking for evidence that helps separate serious signals from speculation. There is no shortage of commentary about AI and work. Some of it predicts massive displacement. […]
As I continue to think through the ideas for a possible book on the future of private colleges in the era of artificial intelligence, I have been looking for institutional responses to AI that go beyond the usual questions of cheating, plagiarism, detection software, and classroom policy. The AI detection, plagiarism, and compliance issues are […]
Read More… from AI, Experience, and the Future Value of College: What MIT’s New Report Gets Right
Author’s Note and Rights Reservation This essay is adapted from a work-in-progress book project tentatively titled The Community Premium: How Private Colleges Can Become Indispensable in the Age of AI. I am sharing it to invite conversation with college leaders, trustees, faculty, alumni, and others interested in the future of private higher education. The article, […]
I have been a college affordability advocate for decades. When I was an undergraduate at Duke in the 1970s, I graduated with only $2,100 in student loan debt thanks to scholarships, Basic Educational Opportunity Grants (the predecessor of Pell Grants), Work Study jobs, summer jobs, and a small expense allowance from my parents. I estimate […]
Read More… from Capping the Parent PLUS Loan Programs: Good for Students?
Jeff Selingo wrote Dream School for families. College leaders, especially those at tuition-dependent, four-year residential undergraduate institutions, should read it as market research. Across the book, a consistent message emerges: Outside a small group of elite institutions, families increasingly want proof—not promises—of career preparation, hands-on learning, belonging, affordability, and institutional capacity. That means yield is […]
Read More… from Reading Dream School as an Enrollment Strategy: Five Imperatives for College Leaders
My obsessive read this month has been The Signal Solution: How Smart Colleges Stop Chasing Applications and Start Converting Students by Geoff Baird and Teege Mettille. It’s a work of piercing insight, warning that the college admissions process—and by extension higher education writ large—is caught in the middle of a category 5 hurricane. Part 1 […]
Read More… from Examining the Five Forces Changing the College Admissions Process
The recent proliferation of articles regarding Congress’s cap on federal student loans, following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, has focused primarily on the impact on graduate students who may not be able to borrow 100 percent of the cost of attendance for their graduate degrees, particularly professional degrees. I have never been […]
Read More… from The Impact of High College Cost of Attendance on Low-Income Families
