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| A Public Higher Ed Primer for Politicians | The annals of political philosophy teem with pieces on the tension between expertise and democracy. Plato’s philosopher-king made sense if you assumed that most people were just staring at shadow puppets. It’s a straight line from the “noble lie” to “you can’t handle the truth!” When democracies failed, or morphed into tyrannies, the lesson that political thinkers drew was that the masses can’t be trusted to govern themselves. They needed experts, often appointed directly by God. America’s great contribution was to demonstrate that if you have a large and diverse enough group involved in politics, each group’s distinct idiocies are largely canceled out by those of other groups.Continue Reading

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| Study: Less state funding has hiked college tuition by nearly 40% since 2008 crisis | Decreases in state funding have pushed the cost of higher education to historic levels over the past decade, according to a new report by a budgetary think tank. The 22-page analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said Thursday the average cost for tuition at four-year public institutions in all 50 states increased by nearly 40 percent between 2008 and 2018, or a little over $2,700. Overall funding for two- and four-year state colleges and universities, meanwhile, decreased by $6.6 billion.Continue Reading

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| Moving Away From Merit Aid | Pennsylvania has the second-lowest level of per-capita state support for higher education, according to a 2018 report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. And its public four-year colleges have the third-highest in-state tuition and fees in the nation, according to a 2018 report from the College Board. To address that problem, the university created the Pitt Success Pell Match Program, which began this fall. The program takes a data-driven, targeted approach to disbursing grant aid. It provides a dollar-for-dollar match for all Pell Grants.Continue Reading

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| Newsom Signs College Aid, Admissions, Accountability Bills | Governor Gavin Newsom signed a series of bills into law Friday focused on affordability, transparency and integrity in higher education. The bills expand access to financial aid for students, strengthen integrity in college admissions and enhance oversight of for-profit colleges in California.Continue Reading