Popping the higher education bubble
By James Piereson and Naomi Schaefer Riley. Last week, Kenneth Griffin, the founder and CEO of the investment firm Citadel, announced a gift of $150 million to Harvard University to subsidize financial aid. It’s not only Harvard that’s back in the money. A survey earlier this month showed that giving to colleges and universities was back at pre-recession levels, with a record $33.8 billion in charitable contributions during the 2013 fiscal year, almost a 10 percent increase over 2012. Most of this increase was, according to the survey by the Council for Aid to Education, “due to the rebounding in the stock market.”
This is great news for higher education but bad news for higher education reformers who have been hoping that the financial crunch might cause colleges to rethink their operating assumptions. More...
Resolving Higher Education's Challenges
By Jonathan M. Brand. The destructive negative news about our higher education system keeps coming, but there is very little coverage in the national media about why colleges and universities might not be addressing perceived shortcomings as rapidly or comprehensively as students, their families, external organizations or the media wishes, or on what creative solutions might realistically exist. After all, a robust higher education system is critical for national economic competitiveness and our vibrancy matters for this country. More...
A second look at Canada’s adult literacy and numeracy skills
CAUT’s proposed censure of King’s College: the view of King’s faculty
By Peter Ibbott, Kristin Lozanski and Graham Broad. CAUT’s censure will harm the reputation and academic freedom of the very faculty CAUT purports to defend. In May, the Canadian Association of University Teachers will seek a motion of censure against King’s University College in London, Ontario. CAUT claims that King’s administration violated Ken Luckhardt’s academic freedom by banning him from King’s. King’s University College Faculty Association (KUCFA) will oppose this motion because censuring King’s will undermine the academic freedom of King’s faculty. More...
Markets and Rules
Sallie Mae Splits In Two, Names New Loan Servicing Unit 'Navient'
Sallie Mae’s loan servicing operations will soon be housed in a separate business entity called Navient, the company announced Tuesday. As it first disclosed last year, Sallie Mae--formally known as SLM Corp.-- is in the process of splitting up into two distinct companies: Navient and Sallie Mae. Read more...