By Chronicle Staff. Report: “Pounding Student Loan Borrowers: The Heavy Cost of the Government’s Partnership With Debt Collection Agencies”
Authors: Deanne Loonin and Persis Yu, both lawyers at the National Consumer Law Center
Organization: National Consumer Law Center
Summary: The authors reviewed complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission against 22 companies that collect defaulted student loans on the federal government’s behalf. More...
06 septembre 2014
Education Dept. Has Ignored Debt-Collector Abuses, Report Alleges
State Lotteries Tend to Replace, Not Bolster, Higher-Education Budgets
By Chronicle Staff. Report: “A Gamble With Consequences: State Lottery-Funded Scholarship Programs as a Strategy for Boosting College Affordability”
Author: Kati Lebioda
Organization: American Association of State Colleges and Universities
Summary: The association reviewed 26 state lottery programs that have earmarked funds for use in either elementary and secondary schools or higher education. More...
Think College Rankings Are Useless? Use Your Imagination
By Andy Thomason. Year after year, college rankings maintain their hard-fought relevance. The leader of the pack, as every admissions officer knows, is U.S. News & World Report, whose annual rankings are due out next week. Colleges have long maneuvered to improve their standings on the hallowed list, changing various policies (and sometimes cheating) to jibe with the magazine’s methodology. U.S. News’s stranglehold on colleges needs to end, writes Vox’s Libby Nelson in a post published Friday morning. More...
Is a Degree Still Worth It? Yes, Researchers Say, and the Payoff Is Getting Better
By Lance Lambert. One could be excused for thinking the value of a college degree is in a downward spiral. With overall student-loan debt topping $1-trillion and tuition racing upward, to college graduates facing high levels of underemployment and stagnating wages, it might appear college simply isn’t worth it.
However, a study released on Tuesday by two researchers with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concludes the opposite is true: The value of a bachelor’s degree is near an all-time high. More...
Rise of Online Booksellers Brings Complaints From Campus Bookstores
By Rebecca Koenig. When the orange Chegg bus rolls onto a campus, one person is unlikely to be excited about its free swag and energy drinks: the college-bookstore manager. The rise of online textbook retailers such as Chegg, Amazon, and Half.com, has put official college and university bookstores on the defensive. Once the default source of course materials, campus bookstores run by Barnes & Noble and Follett are responding to the pressure by cracking down on competitors’ on-campus advertising, which bookstores contend violates their exclusivity contracts with colleges. Read more...A Manly Old Guide to the Ivy League
By Eric Hoover. If your college guide says nothing about finding dates or getting laid, your college guide is woefully incomplete.
I reached that conclusion while thumbing through an entertaining old book my editor plucked on a whim from The Chronicle’s library this summer. With its drab, tattered cover, The Ivy League Guidebook, published in 1969, looks as inviting as a frat-basement couch. Read more...
Do Americans Expect Too Much From a College Degree?
By Dan Berrett. In times like these, data points get wielded like cudgels. Student-loan debt tops $1-trillion. As many as half of recent graduates are out of work, earn trifling wages, or have jobs that don’t require college degrees. Clearly, such numbers suggest, college isn’t worthwhile. Read more...
Scottish universities braced for brain drain if country votes for independence
By Severin Carrell. Senior education figures voice fears about loss of funding and departure of top scientists in the event of a yes vote. Scotland's top universities are bracing themselves for a brain drain of their most talented scientists if there is a yes vote for independence, with some academics already prepared to relocate. Read more...Five top tips for new department heads – and they’re not what you expect
By Maiken Umbach. If you think you know what being a head of department entails, think again. These days, it’s about making connections and being an ambassador. Read more...Is it time to restructure our universities?
By Peter Scott. A federal approach could help tackle the divisive brand wars and class-bound hierarchies that dog our current system. The pattern of higher education institutions has remained remarkably stable for half a century. The post-1992 universities were allowed to drop their "polytechnic" labels but are essentially the same places. Read more...
