Nowhere to Go
By Paul Fain. Up to 44 percent of students at for-profit colleges could lose access to federal financial aid under proposed “gainful employment” regulations, according to a new report from the sector’s trade group. And many of those students lack other educational options in their academic field or geographical area.
“The impact will be very large” if gainful employment is enacted, the report said. Read more...
Many Comments, Few Surprises
By Michael Stratford and Paul Fain. As the public comment period for the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed “gainful employment” regulations ended last night, the department had received thousands of comments, most of which argued either that the rules go too far or that they don't go far enough. Read more...
5-Year Plan
By Colleen Flaherty. Criticizing humanities doctoral programs is easy. They take too long, they continue to emphasize training for tenure-track faculty positions in an era when such positions are scarce, they encourage the book-model of dissertation at a time when books are hard to publish, even full funding isn’t always “full” – the list goes on. Read more...
Why They Stay or Leave
By Elizabeth Redden. The main sources of dissatisfaction for international undergraduate students at U.S. institutions relate to finances, according to new research on retention released today at the annual NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference. Read more...
'At the Mercy of Students'
By Jack Grove for Times Higher Education. Academics at the University of Surrey are considering a vote of no confidence in their vice chancellor, Christopher Snowden, over a new teaching evaluation method based on student satisfaction scores. Read more...
Complexities of Cuban Study Abroad
By Elizabeth Redden. There’s no place like Cuba, at least as far as study abroad is concerned. That was a main takeaway of a session here at the NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference on things U.S. universities should consider in offering study abroad programs in Cuba. Read more...
We Won't Use Trigger Warnings
By 7 Humanities Professors. We write as faculty members teaching in gender/sexuality studies, critical race studies, film and visual studies, literary studies, and cognate fields. We empathize with the difficulties our students bring into the classroom, from their pasts and/or from their ongoing battles with violence, sexual assault, racism, and other traumatizing events, both everyday and extraordinary. As faculty of color, female, and/or queer faculty, many of us have had some of the same experiences. Read more...
Why I'll Add a Trigger Warning
By Angus Johnston. Trigger warnings in the classroom have been the subject of tremendous debate in recent weeks, but it’s striking how little the discussion has contemplated what actual trigger warnings in actual classrooms might plausibly look like. Read more...
Know Thy Selfie
By Scott McLemee. At a certain age, you find the slang of the day growing a bit opaque or slippery. Using it becomes a calculated risk. Not that the words or usages are necessarily incomprehensible, though some of them are. (The word “random” now has implications in the American vernacular that I have yet to figure out.) But the unwritten rules of informal correctness are sometimes tricky, and mastering them a challenge. Read more...
Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say
By David Leonhardt. Some newly minted college graduates struggle to find work. Others accept jobs for which they feel overqualified. Student debt, meanwhile, has topped $1 trillion. It’s enough to create a wave of questions about whether a college education is still worth it. Read more...
