By Eric Hoover. Neither a victory nor a defeat. That’s how supporters of race-conscious admissions policies have described the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas. At the College Board’s annual conference here this week, admissions officials have discussed that ambiguity. During a session on Fisher, an audience of more than 200 people participated in an on-the-spot survey. More...

By Eric Hoover. Colleges that have long overlooked and undervalued transfer students are thinking more carefully about how to recruit, retain, and graduate them. During a session here on Thursday at the College Board’s annual conference, enrollment experts said the nation was having a long-overdue “transfer moment.”
The recession “has rejiggered the way that families look at higher education,” said Stephen J. Handel, associate vice president for undergraduate admissions for the University of California system. High-school students who wouldn’t have even considered community colleges five years ago are giving them a second look. And more are choosing to start their quest for four-year degrees at two-year colleges. More...

By Joshua Kim. My most productive interactions at the EDUCAUSE conference are the discussions that I have with leaders from the corporate participants. 
The CEOs, Presidents, VPs, and Directors. 
The people responsible for the strategic directions and new initiatives for the services, software, hardware, and publishing companies whose presence (in the exhibitor hall, in corporate sessions, and through sponsorships), that make up so much of the value of attending EDUCAUSE. Read more...

The top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee is questioning how the National Endowment for the Humanities awards its education grants. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama sent a letter this week to Carol M. Watson, the acting chairwoman of the NEH, in which he demanded the agency explain its peer-review process for funding grants that explore “very indefinite” questions. Sessions pointed to seven grants the NEH funded that seek to explore the following questions: “What is the meaning of life?”, “Why are we interested in the past?”, “What is the good life and how do I live it?”, “Why are bad people bad?”, “What is belief?”, “What is a monster?”, and “Why do humans write?” Read more...

The Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) has learned that the Title VIII program – a U.S. State Department program that funds language training and research in Eurasian and Eastern European studies – did not receive an appropriation for the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Because the money is typically allocated one year and spent the next, that means a significant reduction in the number of fellowships and grants available in 2013-14. Read more...