A “Hijab Day” at the prestigious Sciences Po, in Paris, has sparked controversy, Agence France-Presse reported.
The student organizers of the event invited classmates to wear a Muslim head scarf for a day in a show of solidarity, describing the event on their Facebook page as an opportunity to “experience the stigmatization experienced by veiled women in France.” #HijabDay trended at the top of French Twitter and was praised by some and condemned by others. Read more...

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday advanced a funding bill that would give a slight boost to the National Science Foundation next fiscal year. Read more...

The embattled accrediting organization that is under scrutiny for its approval of many controversial for-profit colleges is now taking action against one of the nation’s largest for-profit college chains. Read more...

Eliminating tuition and fees at public colleges and universities, as Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has proposed, would disproportionately benefit wealthier families, according to a new analysis by the Brookings Institute. Read more...

Reuters reported Wednesday that at least five times in the last three years, the College Board gave high school students in the United States versions of the SAT that included questions and answers that had been online for more than a year. Read more...

Following the Los Angeles mayor's announcement that the city will begin offering one year of free community college tuition to high school graduates, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is looking to do the same for that city's residents. Read more...

A new North Carolina law bars public institutions, including public colleges and universities, from letting transgender people use bathrooms that don't reflect their assigned gender at birth. A new study by a Georgia State University professor suggests that such policies are linked to suicide attempts by transgender students. Read more...

While diversity in American higher education has improved substantially in recent decades, wealthier students still earn the bulk of the bachelor's degrees awarded in this country, according to new data from the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education and the University of Pennsylvania Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy. Read more...

Kentucky lawmakers reached a budget agreement last week that includes a plan for free community college. Read more...

JetBlue on Monday announced a new employer-sponsored college degree program with some unusual features. The airline is offering its employees with at least 15 previous college credits the chance to earn a bachelor's degree for $3,500 or less. Read more...