News Items from the Week of December 14, 2018

International

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The Trump administration tried to save a U.S. university by playing nice with an autocrat. It failed. | In an interview this week at the U.S. Embassy, [Ambassador] Cornstein declined to directly criticize Orban — whom he described as his “friend” — and instead blamed Soros for not cultivating better relations with the prime minister…Ultimately, he said, the conflict is little more than a grudge match between Orban and Soros. “It had to do with two men,” Cornstein said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with academic freedom.” That contradicts previous statements from the United States and many of its European allies, which have cast the university’s fate as a matter of principle.

American science in decline as China’s rises | In 2012, China’s spending on R&D was 34% that of America’s. But, by 2016, based on ‘purchasing power parity’, the giant Asian nation’s spending was equivalent to 88% that of the US. It seems likely to surpass America soon. China’s budget for basic research hit US$14.1 billion in 2016, up 18.5% over the previous year.

OECD says student loans scheme should be less generous | “The Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) scheme might need adjustment, or the cost to taxpayers may rise excessively in the future,” the report said. “While the HELP program is not considered a form of welfare and the intent is to get those who benefit from education to make a contribution, the generosity of the HELP program is at odds with otherwise highly targeted and means-tested social policy in Australia.”

U.S. National

Student loan crisis puts higher education in a pickle | Higher education is in a pickle. It is dependent on a student loan program that is in crisis, and also in a vortex of two toxic forces: accommodating the shrinking academic preparedness of entering students, and the expanding “consumerism” of giving students the level of difficulty and educational experience they want.

Slight Dip in Ph.D.s Conferred | The number of U.S. doctorates awarded in 2017 fell slightly year over year, to 54,664 from 54,862, according to a new report based on data from the federal Survey of Earned Doctorates.

Brief Offers Policy Recommendations to Address Unmet Financial Need | Offering an overview of students’ average unmet need by race, income status and institution type from academic year 2015-16, the brief “When Financial Aid Falls Short” provides several recommendations for policymakers to address unmet need, including investing in public institutions and need-based aid programs, improving calculations in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process and modernizing financial aid and economic security policies, among others.

Of Metrics and Markets: Measuring Post-College Employment Success [Full Report] | Unfortunately, clear and accurate information on employment outcomes is not currently available. Instead, students and other stakeholders are offered an array of employment metrics calculated by different subsets of colleges and programs at the behest of states, accreditors, and the federal government, and using a variety of definitions. The resulting patchwork of uncoordinated data makes meaningful comparison across programs and colleges near impossible and leaves major questions about the accuracy and reliability of the available information.

‘Going to College in the Sixties’ | The change in the mood of American higher education from 1960 to 1969 was incredible and surprising — from optimism and confidence to exhaustion and uncertainty. If I were asked for a eulogy or epitaph for the decade, I would note that much of the ’60s happened in the ’70s. The countercultural innovations that took root in the late 1960s continued and grew into the mid-1970s. I also think the cultural legacies surpassed the political changes.

The Degree Rules, for Now | The traditional college degree remains by far the best ticket to a good-paying job, a well-established fact bolstered by a survey the center conducted. But the results also suggest that college leaders should pay close attention to the gradual, ongoing transformation of HR functions as well as to nascent changes in how employers view alternative credentials, particularly of the digital variety.

Does More Federal Aid Raise Tuition Costs? Not For Most Students, Research Says | [F]ormer Secretary of Education William Bennett, spelled out his idea in 1987. “If anything, increases in financial aid in recent years have enabled colleges and universities blithely to raise their tuitions, confident that Federal loan subsidies would help cushion the increase,” he wrote in The New York Times. It became the Bennett Hypothesis, and researchers have studied it extensively in recent years. Results and opinions are mixed — but there’s isn’t definitive evidence that federal aid is driving up costs across all types of schools.

U.S. States

Higher-ed investment essential | As lawmakers begin their work in Olympia to develop the budget for the next two years, we urge them to invest in higher education. We especially encourage them to provide greater funding for community and technical colleges, the most affordable and effective way to quickly close the skills and education gap in our communities.

UC at tipping point, in pursuit of a new funding model | What should students and their families pay in tuition and fees to help partially cover the cost of a UC education? In the US, and elsewhere, there is significant concern regarding the impact of rising tuition and student debt levels. There are also misunderstandings about the relation of the ‘sticker’ price at a UC campus and what students actually pay. UC has pursued what I have called a ‘progressive tuition model’ – increasing tuition fees but using a third or more of the income for financial aid for low-income and middle-class students.

The Power of Guaranteed Admissions | The study, published in the journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, finds that the Texas 10 percent plan, one of the most prominent experiments in guaranteed admissions, made high-talent, low-income students more likely than they historically have been to apply to the flagship universities in Texas. So guaranteed admissions, the paper argues, can reduce the problem of “undermatching,” in which talented, disadvantaged students apply to few if any competitive colleges — even though in many cases they would be admitted and awarded aid.

Education plan sparks controversy | Pritzker’s plan for higher education in the state focuses on three key areas: increasing college affordability, keeping Illinois students in-state and expanding economic opportunity and promoting innovation.

Arkansas improves its rate of degrees, but state still lagging U.S., neighbors | Arkansas’ rate of bachelor’s degrees rose by 2.9 percentage points — from 19.1 percent of Arkansans 18 and older to 22 percent. Only Missouri and Tennessee had higher increases. Yet, Arkansas’ rate of bachelor’s degrees is still lower than all of its surrounding states except for Mississippi. Nationally, 30.9 percent of people 18 and older had bachelor’s degrees in 2017, up from 27.9 percent in 2010.

Institutional

Rise of the Science Ph.D. Dropout | The “half-life” of academic scientists has shortened dramatically over time, says a new paper calling attention to the “rise of the temporary workforce.” Following scientists in three fields, the paper’s authors found that it took about five years for a half of a science cohort to leave academic work in 2010 — compared to 35 years in the 1960s.

Teaching the Students We Have, Not the Students We Wish We Had | Today’s college students are the most overburdened and undersupported in American history. More than one in four have a child, almost three in four are employed, and more than half receive Pell Grants but are left far short of the funds required to pay for college. Rather than receiving help from their parents to pay for college, even the youngest college students often have to use their loans to pay their parents’ bills.

UAH joins nationwide effort to increase college access, equity, and postsecondary attainment | The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) announced earlier this month that it has joined with 130 other public universities and systems for a new initiative, “Powered by Publics: Scaling Student Success.” Organized by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the collaborative effort is intended to increase college access, close the achievement gap, and enroll 3 million students – including 1 million students who receive Pell Grants – by 2025.

Saudi Partnerships Are Too Valuable to Give Up, MIT Report Concludes | In short, Lester reasoned, no evidence has surfaced tying any of the organizations that MIT deals with — the state oil company, Saudi Aramco, for example — to the assassination. And, he wrote, cutting ties with them would probably do little to make Saudi Arabia less repressive. “On the positive side,” he concluded, “these organizations are supporting important research and activities at MIT on terms that honor our principles and comply with our policies.”