By Rick Seltzer. The average amount of debt per student at private universities rated by Moody’s Investors Service is declining, the ratings agency said in a new report released Thursday. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. New study suggests female economists are less likely to be tenured, compared to male peers, and women are less likely to remain in academe eight years after earning their Ph.D.s. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. Following the success of its scholarly communication platform, MLA Commons, the Modern Language Association has launched the beta version of Humanities Commons, a nonprofit, open-access network. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. A new report from American Academy of Arts and Sciences makes a data-based case for building U.S. capacity for foreign languages. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. A new survey of graduate assistants conducted by Service Employees International Union, a major organizer of adjuncts that is currently organizing graduate employees on a number of private campuses, suggests widespread concern with pay, health care and job security. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. Just over 75 percent of Indian-born Americans have a college degree, and 42 percent have a graduate or professional degree. These percentages tower over those of other foreign-born populations (overall average of 27 percent and 11 percent for undergraduate and graduate degrees). These numbers also far exceed those for people born in the United States. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. Officials at the University of Pennsylvania want you to know that Shakespeare is "alive and well" at their institution. It's just his portrait that may be less central. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. A new analysis finds that women, for the first time, make up a majority of law students. While that may be a milestone for women, the analysis follows one that finds male applicants have been more likely to be admitted than female applicants. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. This is the second year of the #IHEreaderschoice award for the best book published by a scholarly publisher that would make a great holiday gift for an academic. More entries this year than last year were books about higher education, and some on social media suggested that such a book should win. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. Teenagers' use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco declined in 2016 to rates that are at their lowest since the 1990s, a national study by the University of Michigan has found. Read more...