| International |
President’s salary order drives wedge between academics | In executive order by the Ugandan president to “move” the salaries of academic scientists to “desired levels”, excluding lecturers in the arts and humanities, has reignited tensions in an age-old debate…He said government would look into the salaries of academics in the humanities and those of “non-technical” and “non-teaching” public sector employees “later”, when the country was “more able”.
India’s Jobs Crisis: Why Our Graduates Are Unemployable | The state of higher education has deteriorated despite a boom in the education sector. Estimates of employable engineers have declined from 25 per cent in 2005 to 18.43 per cent in 2014. This figure drops to low single digits when looking at relatively more demanding roles. Why is it that after having spent four years studying, a student lacks the basic skills to be employable?
Higher education regulators on accreditation in Nigeria | Graduate qualifications alone are not strong enough to make an average Nigerian graduate a proud professional and competitively be at par with their counterparts in other climes. Hence, undertaking continuing professional development is essential to maintaining standards and knowledge post qualification as evidence of specialism. Furthermore, many employers of labour lookout for an institution’s accreditation status before deciding to provide tuition assistance to current employees as well as when evaluating the credentials of prospective employees.
Black students more likely to engage in studies – but still attain lower degrees, study finds | Black students are more likely to engage and participate in their university studies – and yet a larger proportion of them obtain lower-level degrees and have lower satisfaction, according to a new a new study. Nearly two in three black students from the UK (65 per cent) report high levels of engagement, as opposed to white students (60 per cent) and Chinese students (56 per cent), the survey of nearly 30,000 undergraduates found.
| U.S. National |
The Value of an On-Time Repayment Rate | Many proponents of repayment rates advocate for them to fix the main shortcoming of the cohort default rate: that a borrower can use discretionary forbearances long enough to avoid being captured in a default rate. Discretionary forbearances are those that are granted by student loan servicers simply because the borrower asks for them. Institutions that put many borrowers into long-term forbearances can evade accountability problems stemming from high default rates, but many of these borrowers appear to default after the federal government stops tracking colleges’ outcomes. Repayment rates solve this problem because a borrower who uses long-term discretionary forbearances is not repaying their loan and is thus not a successful outcome for a school.
New Data Illustrate the Depth of America’s College Completion Crisis | The proportion of high school graduates who immediately matriculate to college has risen substantially in recent decades, even as the high school graduation rate has itself climbed. But a dark trend has emerged alongside these cheery developments: Just 40 percent of the freshmen enrolled in four-year colleges each year graduate with a degree on time. Roughly one-third of all college students in both two- or four-year programs never earn a degree at all.
How the ex-Trump official who wants to cancel student debt would fix higher education funding | To address the burgeoning debt load, Johnson said he is advocating for up to $50,000 of loan forgiveness for all borrowers…For Johnson, the solution is offering every student up to a $50,000 grant to use toward higher education — whether it’s college or vocational programs. He also is calling for a $50,000 tax credit for those who have already paid off their loans.
Some College, No Degree | Report features broad new data on 36 million Americans who left college without a credential, including 3.8 million who returned to college in the last five years, nearly one million of whom completed.
California’s Athlete-Compensation Law Is Now Official, Posing a Serious Challenge to the NCAA | California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, made the state’s challenge to amateurism in collegiate sports a reality on Monday, signing into law a bill that allows athletes at California universities to earn money from their name, image, and likeness rights starting in 2023.
| U.S. States and Territories |
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.
State higher education funding cuts have pushed costs to students and worsened inequality, national report says | Colleges responded to the funding cuts by increasing tuition, which remains much higher than prerecession in most states. The average annual published tuition rose by 37% nationwide and 44% in Oklahoma, according to the report.
These Pa. colleges and universities are among best in nation, report says | Analysts at the Washington, D.C.-based personal finance website took a sampling of 1,003 schools — a combination of four-year public schools and four-year private, not-for-profit institutions — to determine where the best education can be attained.
Kentucky ranks 8th worst for college affordability | After a decade of plummeting state funding levels for higher education, Kentucky now ranks among the worst in the nation for college affordability. Kentucky has the 8th worst college affordability, measured as the net cost of attending a four-year public institution as a share of median household income, according to a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
How Connecticut is solving the problem of student debt | Although the problem of student debt isn’t unique to Connecticut, it has a particularly negative impact on our economy. One study from Experian found that student loan debt in Connecticut doubled over the last decade, rising to $17 billion. Consider what that means for recent graduates across the state. Students are leaving campus with, on average, $38,510 of debt hanging over their heads. This delays the purchase of a first home, the launch of a small business and the start of a family. We know this problem doesn’t just impact young people, as some loans are still accruing interest three decades after a student’s graduation.
How college-ready are low-income Upstate NY students? 50 top districts, ranked | A new study from the Education Trust−New York uses student data from the high school classes of 2012 & 2013 to show real higher education outcomes for every district in the state. Across Upstate New York, just 34% of low income students who went to college after high school graduated on time. That’s slightly higher than the statewide average of 30%.
Feeling suppressed: NH, other states are trying their best to make it hard for students to vote |Before the bill became law, out-of-state college students at New Hampshire schools could vote in this state by providing basic evidence of living here during the school year; a student ID, for example. Now, other obligations are required if a student is to register to vote in New Hampshire, including getting a state driver’s license and registering a car here. It won’t be enough to prove residency through a utility bill, a letter from a college or an apartment lease. With nearly 60 percent of college students in New Hampshire from outside the state, this is potentially a big deal with non-resident students who want to vote here being forced to register their cars, an inconvenience to be sure, and not an inexpensive one. It fulfills what former Republican House Speaker William O’Brien, quoted in the Times story, promised when he asked for a crackdown on “kids voting liberal, voting their feelings, with no life experience.”
| Institutional |
A New Model for a New Reality | St. John’s College administrators insisted they were going against the grain last year when they announced that tuition was being reduced from $52,000 to $35,000. The leaders of the private liberal arts college contended they were different from other institutions embracing tuition resets and being criticized for taking part in what some consider a misleading pricing gimmick. St. John’s would make up for the loss of tuition revenue not by increasing enrollment or reducing financial aid, but by using a new financial model based on raising more donor dollars — $300 million more.
Fresh Guidance for Merging Colleges | Mergers between colleges and universities should not be viewed only as last resorts. So says a new book published today, Strategic Mergers in Higher Education… drawing on an analysis of over 100 mergers in the United States since 2000, interviews with more than 30 leaders involved in higher ed mergers and their own considerable experience.