By Chronicle Staff. Report: “The Real Cost of College: Time & Credits to Degree at California Community Colleges and California State University”
Organization: The Campaign for College Opportunity
Summary: Students who graduated with undergraduate degrees from the California State University system spent a median of 4.7 years to do so and earned 135 credits. Likewise, students who graduated from the state’s community colleges with associate degrees, which traditionally take two years to complete, now routinely take four years. More...
Some Colleges Cheer Supreme Court’s Ruling on Contraceptive Mandate
By . Several religious colleges saw good news in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Monday that the federal government may not compel certain companies to offer health-care plans that include access to contraceptives, if their owners have religious objections to doing so. The court’s decision applies to closely held for-profit corporations, not private religious colleges and other nonprofit organizations. More...
Education Dept. Unveils New Lists of Most and Least Expensive Colleges
By Andy Thomason. The U.S. Department of Education updated on Monday the information that informs its lists of the most- and least-expensive colleges in the country. It is the fourth time the department has updated the College Affordability and Transparency information, which is used to call attention to colleges that do the best and worst jobs, respectively, at charging affordable tuition and fees. More...
Bank Linked to Prominent Debit-Card Provider Faces $3.5-Million Fine
By Andy Thomason. The Federal Reserve Board has fined a Chicago-based bank $3.51-million over its partnership with Higher One Holdings Inc., a prominent provider of campus debit cards, according to a news release on the Federal Reserve’s website. More...
British Regulator Investigates Controversial Facebook Study
By Andy Thomason. A government regulator in Britain will investigate whether Facebook violated data-protection laws by conducting a study that manipulated the emotions of unknowing users, the Financial Times reports. More...
For-Profit Giant ITT Says It May Face Financial Restrictions
By Andy Thomason. ITT Educational Services Inc. said in a corporate filing on Wednesday that it may face financial restrictions over its failure to file a set of documents with the U.S. Department of Education. A set of financial statements was due to the department by June 30 but was not sent, according to the filing. More...
How to Measure Imagination
To Help Rural Students, Provide Them With Campus Jobs
By Shannon Venezia. Despite its name, Washington State Community College is located not in Washington State but in the historic town of Marietta, Ohio. The closest small city is Parkersburg, W.Va. The closest large city is Columbus, Ohio, more than two hours to the northwest. Our beautiful five-building campus sits on 150 acres. Our enrollment is roughly 1,700, and we serve a unique population: rural students. More...
Turning Financial-Aid and Admissions Staffs Into an Enrollment Team
By Melanie Weaver. What if I told you that your admissions counselors could be trained to talk with students about financial aid and your financial-aid counselors could be trained to help in admissions? The truth is, it can be done. About two years ago the enrollment-leadership team at Ohio Northern University embarked on an effort to cross-train all of our counselors. More...
Measuring Colleges’ Access and Diversity Efforts
By Sarah Pingel. Can an institution’s commitments to access and diversity be quantified? And how are those commitments expressed in financial-aid policies?
Those are the difficult questions that the access and diversity committee of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators has been considering this past year. More...