Reuters wrote about how a Chinese company, Dipont, bought access to admissions officers at elite U.S. colleges and universities including Vanderbilt, Tulane, the University of Virginia, and Wellesley College. Eight former Dipont employees were interviewed about the company’s practices with U.S. admissions officers. One of those practices, hosting a summer program in China and inviting U.S.
On September 12, 2015, the White House released its long-awaited College Scorecard and, much like other ranking and comparison tools available for use by students, the Scorecard came up short in representing all institutions fairly. While it may have been created with the latest mobile technology to allow for easier access, its data do not accurately portray many institutions, including those serving non-traditional students or where most students do not use federal student aid (FSA) to cover the cost of tuition.
A week ago, research firm ITHAKA S+R published the results of its fall 2015 survey. More than 100 American higher education administrators and experts were invited to join a panel of advisors who have been asked to participate in two semi-annual surveys as part of their advisory roles. The Fall 2015 survey examined initiatives and strategies to improve degree completion rates, the quality of student learning and college affordability, and respondents evaluated and rated the initiatives and strategies.
Michael Horn’s and Andrew Kelly’s August 2015 whitepaper Moving Beyond College: Rethinking Higher Education Regulation for an Unbundled World discusses current and proposed alternatives to the postsecondary education system and how more of them might be eligible for federal and state financial aid programs. The authors explain that the development of technology-enabled modular or unbundled offerings for higher education is common and occurs in many industries as technology matures.
As part of its ongoing contributions to improving higher education, the Lumina Foundation issued a white paper in August 2015, A Benchmark for Making College Affordable – The Rule of 10. The paper initially references the 45 percent increase in the cost of college over the past decade while the average family income rose only 7 percent over the same period.
Susan Dynarski’s June 2 article in The New York Times elicited more than a few tweets. Dr. Dynarski, a professor of education, public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, wrote about a project called the Education Longitudinal Study that began tracking 15,000 high school sophomores in 2002. Last month, the researchers updated their educational attainment data for those sophomores and issued a report.
Last week’s announcement that Sweet Briar College would close in August came as a shock to many. Some alumnae have organized a fundraising campaign to keep Sweet Briar alive and others are wondering why a college with an $84 million endowment and 700 students had to close while it still had cash in the bank. The board cited an unsustainable enrollment decline as one of the reasons.
Jim Sweizer, Vice President of Military, Veterans, and Community College Outreach, American Public University System
The Council of College and Military Educators (CCME), which serves the training and networking needs of military voluntary education professionals, annually hosts a conference for attendees from the Department of Defense (DoD), universities, and members of the Education Service Officer (ESO) community.
Guest Post by George M. Vukovich, Director, Veterans Relations at American Public University System
A recent article on Money.com, “Why Veterans Will Soon Save Thousands on College,” provides promising information for veterans and their family members as they transition from the military environment to civilian life, college and beyond.
As a retired Marine, and advocate for veterans achieving higher education success, I truly appreciate the congressional effort to enact new legislation to assist veterans with immediate in-state residency standing for higher education tuition purposes.
Stories about the financial challenges faced by higher education institutions are common and point to the need for boards and administration to adopt an approach to financial planning that ensures long-term stability. In the March 24 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mark Keierleber writes about a number of smaller colleges that are adjusting to lower enrollments and the lagging economic recovery in “Financially Strapped Colleges Grow More Vulnerable.”
The article features a story about Ashland University, which borrowed money to build a recreation center, an education building, and an addition to its science center.