By . Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday downgraded Howard University’s credit rating, citing several financial challenges at the historically black institution, including revenue and enrollment declines and “weak” fund raising. Moody’s assigned $290-million in revenue bonds issued for Howard a rating of Baa1, down from A3, indicating that the agency considers them to be a moderate credit risk, according to The Washington Post. The agency began its review in July, after tensions arose regarding the university’s financial health. Read more...02 octobre 2013
Moody’s Downgrades Howard U.’s Credit Rating
By . Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday downgraded Howard University’s credit rating, citing several financial challenges at the historically black institution, including revenue and enrollment declines and “weak” fund raising. Moody’s assigned $290-million in revenue bonds issued for Howard a rating of Baa1, down from A3, indicating that the agency considers them to be a moderate credit risk, according to The Washington Post. The agency began its review in July, after tensions arose regarding the university’s financial health. Read more...Default Rate on Federal Student Loans Climbs Again
By . The percentage of borrowers who defaulted on their federal student loans within two years of entering repayment has risen again, to 10 percent, according to data released on Monday by the U.S. Department of Education. Read more...Debate Over Paid Recruitment Agents Has Ended—for Now
By Eric Hoover. Toronto — One long chapter has ended, but the book surely hasn’t been shut. American colleges may pay commissions to international-student recruiters as long as those institutions follow specific guidelines, according to new rules approved by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, or NACAC, here on Saturday. The new policy marks a shift for the association, which had long frowned upon the use of paid agents to recruit overseas. By a vote of 152 to 47, the association’s governing body amended NACAC’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice, the voluntary ethical standards for member colleges and high schools. Read more...
Quality and Potential in Admissions
By Eric Hoover. Washington — Last week I attended a panel discussion on diversity in higher education sponsored by the Departments of Education and Justice, which issued new guidance on race-conscious admissions policies. The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, federal officials said, affirmed that colleges may consider an applicant’s race, among other factors, without running afoul of the law. Read more...Apply to Bard, in 10,000 Words
By Eric Hoover. Bard College will soon offer students a new way to apply for admission, The New York Times reported this weekend. Extra-large thinking caps will be required. Starting this fall, applicants may choose to write four essays—totaling about 10,000 words—in response to a list of intense (my word) research questions. The questions concern Aeschylus, Confucius, and Gogol. One asks about “the origin of chirality (or handedness) in a prebiotic life.” (There are no questions about Miley Cyrus, alas.) Students whose essays receive a B-plus or better will be admitted to the college, regardless of their grades or test scores (the college is test-optional). Read more...Has the Cost of College Reached a Tipping Point?
By Beckie Supiano. Toronto — Almost 150 colleges charged $50,000 or more in tuition, fees, room, and board in 2012-13. That one-year price is pretty darn close to the median household income in the United States. So has the cost of college reached a critical tipping point? Read more...
How a Small Policy Change Can Shape Application Behavior
By Beckie Supiano. While the average graduating senior who took out student loans leaves college with what should be a manageable level of loan debt—around $26,500—concerns about student debt are persistent and widespread. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators took account of that broad concern and decided to convene a task force of its members to comb through research and trends, and offer recommendations for improving the student-loan system. On Wednesday the association, known as Nasfaa, released a report laying out those recommendations, which have been endorsed by its board. Read more...
Yale U. Announces $250-Million Gift, Its Largest Ever
By Don Troop. Yale University has announced a $250-million gift, the largest in the institution’s history. The money, from the mutual-fund billionaire Charles B. Johnson, will support the construction of two new residential colleges at Yale, according to a news release from the university. More...
Competency-Based Education Goes Mainstream in Wisconsin
By Scott Carlson. Twenty years ago, Aaron Apel headed off to the University of Wisconsin at Platteville, where he spent too little time studying and too much time goofing off. He left the university, eventually earning an associate degree in information technology at a community college.
Now, as a longtime staff member in the registrar's office at Wisconsin's Madison campus, he has advanced as far as his education will let him. "I have aspirations to climb the ladder in administration, but the opportunity isn't there without a four-year degree," he says. More...
Près de 400 000 emplois ne sont pas pourvus chaque année en France !
Le Conseil d'Orientation de l'Emploi chiffre à au moins 400 000 le nombre de tentatives de recrutement abandonnées chaque en France. La faute notamment au déficit d'attractivité de certains métiers, ainsi qu'à l'inadéquation entre les compétences attendues par les recruteurs et celles disponibles…
Le marché français du travail présente quelques anomalies. Parmi celles-ci figure en très bonne position le fait que le taux de chômage en France touche près de 11 % de la population active et, dans le même temps, des centaines de milliers d'emplois ne sont pas pourvus chaque année en France… Le dernier rapport du Conseil d'Orientation de l'Emploi (COE) estime en effet à au moins 400 000 les tentatives de recrutement abandonnées chaque année, faute de candidats ! Suite...
